124 FLOWERS OF THE HEATHS AND MOORS 



and lon(:^er female spikclets. There is no doubt that some of the 

 sedges can be polhnated by insects, though usually, as here, by the 

 agency of the wind. 



The nut is indehiscent and falls to the ground close to the plant, 

 or it may be swung on the slender drooping flower-stalks by the wind 

 to a short distance. 



Green-ribbed Sedge is a humus-loving plant, and grows in a rich 

 humus soil on heaths or woodland tracts. 



The second Latin name refers to the ribbed perigynia. 



The plant is often infested by a fungus, Piicciiiia can'cis, one of 

 the " rusts ". 



Essential Specific Characters: — 



329. Carcx bincrvis, Sm. — Stem tall, triangular, slender, leaves 

 flat, female spikelets brown, remote, perigynia with two green ribs, 

 nut obovoid. 



Small Bent Grass (Agrostis canina, L.) 



Seeds of grasses are so small that they are liable to be overlooked 

 in plant beds, and so far this plant has not been found. It grows 

 to-day in N. Temperate and Arctic Europe, N. and W. Asia, Hima- 

 laya, N. and S. America, Australasia. It is found in every county 

 of Great Britain, e.xcept Salop, Mid Lanes, S.E. Yorks, as far north 

 as the Shetlands, up to 1500 ft. in Derby, and in Ireland and the 

 Channel Islands. 



The Small Bent Grass is strictly an arenophilous species, growing 

 where ./^ /re? /i;vr(rar and Sheep's Sorrel are found. It is mainly ericetal, 

 being frequent on commons, heaths, and moorland, w^here also Furze, 

 Broom, Tormentil, Harebell, and other heath plants grow. 



This is a tall, erect grass with a slender stem, unbranched, often 

 putting forth stolons or trailing shoots, with the lower part of the stem 

 prostrate at first. The leaves are mainly radical, and narrow, with 

 inrolled flat margins. The lower leaves are bristle-like and tufted. 

 The shoots are leafy and trailing. The ligule is oblong and acute. 

 The sheaths are smooth. 



The flowers are in a long panicle, which is narrow before it opens, 

 then spreading almost at right angles, slender and wavy, with rough 

 flower-stalks, and purple to green in flower, and contracted in fruit. 

 The branches are slender and hair-like. 



The glumes above are empty, shorter than those below, which are 

 blunt. The awn is bent like a knee, twisted, and above the base of 



