66 ON AGROSTIS NIGRA. 



and the lower glume has teeth only in its upper half. In most 

 books only two are recognised : A. vulgaris and A. alba, or by some 

 synonymous names, distinguished by the ligule and open or con- 

 tracted fruit panicle; we may possibly place A. nigra (With.) 

 between them." 



Withering described A. nigra as a distinct species in his 

 ' Systematic Arrangement of British Plants,' ed. 3, 1796. The 

 following is his description, in ed. 5, ii. 173, condensed: — 



".J. nigra. — Panicle scattered; branches bare at the base, 



florets few ; calyx inner valve smooth ; root creeping Straws 



numerous, upright, slender, weak, a foot high ; the lower joints 

 sending off branches which creep on the ground. Leaves slender, 

 flat, weak, smooth, generally shrivelled. Leaf-scale short blunt 

 (Leers)." 



That part of Withering' s description copied from Leers evidently 

 belongs to a different plant. 



Sinclair's Agrostis repens (' Hort. Gram. Woburnensis,' ed. 2, 

 344) is possibly the same plant as W^ithering's A. nigra; he quotes 

 the latter as a synonym, but gives no plate. The latter part of 

 his description, "root strongly creeping," appears, however, to 

 point to a soboliferous plant, whilst Withering's plant was, if 

 the description is correct, a stoloniferous plant. It is possible that 

 both botanists may have had the same plant in view, as the soboles 

 of A. nigra send up leafy shoots, which are sometimes long and 

 prostrate. Siuclau-'s plate of A. alba would do well for our plant. 



Knapp's Agrostis seminuda is X3robably the Agrostis nigra of 

 Withering ; this is fully described in ' Gramina Britannica ' (ed. 2), 

 1841, p. 114 ; in most respects this description would well repre- 

 sent the Warwickshire plant. 



Agrostis nigra is abundant in many parts of Warwickshire, in 

 cultivated fields, on railway banks and sidings, and in old clay 

 quarries. I have very rarely seen it as a roadside or hedge-bank 

 plant. Its most frequent habitat is the borders of cornfields in haavy 

 soils, but it is by no means restricted to these. I have noticed it 

 also in similar situations in Worcester, Stafford, and Shropshh'e, 

 and have no doubt its distribution will be found to be general 

 throughout the country. 



I cannot conclude this notice of A. nigra without acknowledging 

 how greatly I am indebted to the Eev. W. W. Newbould, for his 

 kindness in referring to the various works of foreign botanists, 

 and also in comparing my S2)ecimens with those in the Herbaria 

 of the British Museum, the Linnean Society, and other public 

 collections, and for many critical remarks and valuable sug- 



Desckiption of Platp: 227. — I'Il,'. 1. Jgrostis nigra, With. (nat. size), from 

 Warwickshire specimens : la, lodicule; 1 h, portion of panicle-branch; Ic, flower 

 (all enlarged) ; 2 a, 2 &, 2 c, corresponding portions of A. vulgaris, L. 



