FIELDS AND MEADOWS 



13 



bcnk. The nut is cjri;-sli.ipcd, lii;iiijjiil;ii'. The 

 plant is 4--'4 in. in height. It is in flower in May, 

 June, antl Jul)', .'ind is quite a conspicuous feature 

 of some pastures, beinjj a lierbaceous perennial. 



Carnation Sedge (Cari-x panicea, L.). — The 

 habitat of this sedge is wet meadows, marshy 

 places, and marshes. The habit is simil.ir to the 

 last. The stems are curved, smooth, bluntly three- 

 angled, erect, and bear leaves. The leaves are 

 bluish-green, with rough edges, flat. The bracts 

 have long sheaths. The spikelets are oblong, 

 the oblong fertile ones inclined, loose, remote, the 

 solitary termin.iJ spike being entirely m.'ilc. The 

 fruit is egg-shaped, swollen, dottetl, longer than 

 the dark, egg-sh.iped glumes, which are blunt or 

 acute, with a broad, green midrib .ind pale edges. 

 The beak is short and round. The nut is 3-angled, 

 dotted, brown, linear-elliptic. The plant is 9-24 

 in. in height. The flowers are open from June 

 to .-\ugust, and it is one of our most handsome 

 sedges, known by its variegated glumes. The 

 plant is a herbaceous perennial. 



Hairy-fruited Sedge (Carex tomentosa, L.). — 

 Pasturis, wel meadows, or w.ater meadows as 

 they are often called, constitute the usual habitat 

 of this plant. The habit is typical of the Sedge 

 group. The stem is erect, acutely 3-angled, rough 

 above. The rootstock is creeping. The broad 

 leaves are bluish -green below, smooth, curved, 

 flat. There are no sheaths to the upper bracts, 

 the lower being leafiike with a sheath, reddish at 

 the base. The spikelets are nearly stalkless, the 

 solitary male spikelets erect, the short female 

 shortly -stalked, blunt, cylindrical. The glumes 

 are small, acute. The fruit is densely down}-, 

 inversely egg-shaped, with a short beak, notched 

 and narrowed below. The nut is 3-angled, pale, 

 inversely egg-shaped. It is 9-18 in. high, and 

 flowers in May, June, July. It is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



Order Gramine^ 



Sweet Vernal GfcISS (Anthoxnnthum odora- 

 tum, L.). — This grass grows everywhere in 

 pastures and meadows or in woods. The habit 

 is typically grass-like, erect. The stem is smooth 

 and shining, nearly simple below, rarely rough. 

 The leaves are flat, hairy, the sheaths furrowed, 

 downy, with a hairy mouth. The panicle is oblong, 

 lance-shaped, interrupted at the base or close, 

 downy or softly hairy, with short branches. The 

 glumes are as long as the awns, which are not so 

 long as the flowers. The spikelets are in groups, 

 green, smooth, or hairy; the lowest glumes are 

 egg-shaped, the upper lance-shaped, nearly awned, 

 the next 2 awned, curved, with blunt tips. The 

 flowering glumes are smooth. The smooth fruit 

 is enclosed in the shining flowering glume and 

 palea. The height is 6-18 in. June and July are 

 the months when this grass scents the meadows. 

 It is the foliage that is aromatic. The plant is 

 a herbaceous perennial. 



Anihoxanthiim puellii, Lee. & Lam.^The habi- 

 tat of this species is pastures, flelds, and waste 

 places. The habit is the same as that of Sweet 



Wrnal Gr.iss, from which it difi'ers in being 

 slender, much-branched, bent at the nodes, with 

 smooth sheaths in the loose panicle narrowed to 

 the top, long slender .awn, shorter gliunes, the 

 lower i-j unequal, rough, membranous, the lower 

 half as long as the long-pointed upper glimie, the 

 awned glumes straight. It is 4-8 in. high, and 

 flowers injuneand July, being a herbaceousannual. 



Meadow Foxtail Grass {Alopecurus pratensis, 

 L.). — The h.abitat of this grass is meadows, pas. 

 tures, gr.issy places. The habit is erect, grass- 

 like. The stem is smooth, the leaves are flat, 

 rough along the border, the shcith smooth, en- 

 larged above, the ligule blunt and large. The 

 cylindrical, blunt, dense panicle is slender, the 

 empty glumes hairy, with keel fringed with hairs, 

 the glumes lance-shaped, with .1 long point, united 

 below, hairy, the awn twice as long as the smooth 

 flowering glume. The anthers are yellow. The 

 styles are united. The plant is 1-3 ft. in hc'ight. 

 It flowers before other grasses in April, up till 

 June. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant, with 

 but slightly-creeping stem. 



Cat's Tail or Timothy Grass [Phleum pralcnse, 

 L. ). — This plant is found in pastures and by the 

 wayside. The habit is erect, tufted. The stems 

 are smooth and ascending, with short, flat leaves. 

 The leaf-sheaths are parallel with the stem. The 

 ligule is long. The panicle is long, cylindrical, 

 blunt, green. The shortly-stalked spikelets are 

 crowded. The glumes are blunt. The rigid, 

 rough awns are half as long as {or less than) the 

 glumes, W'hich have a stout, hairy, green keel, 

 with pale borders. The flowering glumes are 

 membranous and 5-nerved. The anthers are ob- 

 long, purple. There are 3 stamens, long styles, 

 slender and feathery stigmas. The fruit is en- 

 closed in the flowering glume, and flattened at 

 the margin. It is 1-4 ft. in height, and the rough, 

 blunt glumes and short awns distinguish it from 

 Alopecurus pra/cnsis, with which it is often con- 

 fused. It is a herbaceous perennial, flowering 

 later than the last in June and July. 



Fiorin Grass (Agmstis alba, L.). — The habitat 

 of this plant is pastures and waste places, grassy 

 places. The plant has the grass habit. The stem 

 is more or less prostrate below, rooting, then erect, 

 with long prostrate stolons. The leaves are flat, 

 sometimes rough, with smooth rough sheaths. 

 The ligule is long and acute. The panicle is 

 branched or lobed, green or yellowish, compact 

 after flowering, spreading in flower. The florets 

 seldom have awns. The empty glumes are large 

 and rigid, the flowering glumes are s-nerved, and 

 rarely awned. The plant is 6 in. to 2 ft. in height, 

 flowering between July and September. The plant 

 is a herbaceous perennial. 



Common Bent Grass {Agmstis vulgaris, W'ith.). 

 — Meadows and marshy jjlaces are the habitat in 

 which this plant is found. The habit is prostrate, 

 then ascending, rooting at the nodes, with stoles. 

 The stems are smooth, with smooth sheaths, the 

 ligule blunt, and short. The panicle is long, 

 spreading, narrowly egg-shaped, branched below. 

 The empty glumes are egg-shaped, smooth, red 



