172 



TRIANDRIA. DIGYNIA. Triticum. 



mari'timiim. H. Lateral florets male^ awnless: middle floret herma- 



phrodite, with a long awn, 



Dicks, h. s.-H. ox. viiL 6. 5. 



Inwolucrum longer than the barren, shorter than the fertile 



florets. Florets 2 barren, 1 fertile, forming a set ; the larger valve 



in all the florets awned. Each barren floret has 2 fence -leaves, 



one of which is spear-shaped at the base. The fertile floret has 



2 awn-like fence-leaves on the outside the large awned valve of 



the blossom, and a third short one at the base of the inner or 

 smaller valve. 



This is the true Squirrel-tail Grass of the Isle of Thanet, and 

 , not as Mr. Curtis says, the Hord. murinum. In its short and 

 stunted growth, from its maritime situation, the awns are rigid 

 and strongly barbed, so as to be extremely troublesome to the 

 mouths of horses when mixed with hay. Major Velley, who sent 

 me the specimen, says it is very common all along the Kentish 

 coast, from Sheppey Isle to the Isle of Thanet. The Hord. mu- 

 iinum on the sea coast sometimes assumes the stunted habit of 

 the true Squirrel-tail, but it wants the rigidity of that, and is 

 not so strongly barbed. 



Sea side Barley. Gram, spicat. secalin. maritimum minus. 

 Scheuch. 18. St. Sea Barley. Hordeum mar'inum. Huds. 



"Meadows and pastures, near the sea. 

 H. AH the florets hermaphrodite, 



A. June, July 



Huds 



MURR 





prod. 43. 



TRITICUM. Calyx 2-valved, solitary, mostly 3- 



flowered : floret bluntish. 



jun'ceum. T. Calyx 5-floweredj lopped : leaves, edges rolled in. 



Dicks, h. s.-Fl. dan. 91&-JS. hot. 814-C. B. th. 132-H. ox. 



viii. 1. 5. 



Extremely smooth. Sheaths downy. Leaves sharp-pointed ; 

 very narrow ; sea-green on the upper surface. Spikets pressed to 

 the straw. Calyx and Bloss. with or without awns. Linn. 



best grasses, in my opinion, are the Alopecurus prate»sh f Poa trivia, /it 

 Dactyl is glomerata^ Cynosurus cristatux, Festuca duriuscula, Festuca ft* - 

 tensis, Festuca hybrida^ A vena jlaws cens, and above all Lolium perenn^ 

 carefully raised from seeds, first selected from the best varieties to be 

 found in old meadows and pastures. I f gardeners, and even farmers, are 

 so careful, as we know they are, in raising the seed of thoir cabbages and 



turnips, surely some of this care is due to their cultivated grasses " r « 



