CLASS in. ORDER II.] CALAMAGROSTIS. 89 



GENUS XXIV. CALAMAGROS'TIS. Adans. Small Reed. 



Gen. Char. Panicle loose. Glumes two, longer tliau tbe glumelles. 

 Glmnelles of two unequal valves, surrounded with hairs at the base, 

 tbe outer valve awned beneath the bind apex. — Name from 

 xaX«/Jtoj, a reed, pipe, or strair, and ay^ocm;, agrostis, a genus of 

 grasses. 



1. C. Epige'jos,'Roth. (Fig. 112.) small Wood-reed. Panicle erect, 

 close ; flowers crowded, unilateral ; glumes subulate, their keel 

 rough; awn of the external valve of tbe gluraelles about as long 

 as tbe hairs and glumes. 



Lindley, Synopsis, p. 304. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 36. — 

 Arun'do epige'jos, Linn. English Botany, t. 403. — English Flora, vol.i. 

 p. 169. 



Root with creeping underground stems. Stem from four to six feet 

 high, slender, finely striated, smooth in flie lower part, roughish in tbe 

 upper, leafy, frequently branched in the lower part. Leavet linear 

 lanceolate, with a long narrow tapering point, roughish, especially 

 beneath, glaucous. Sheaths close, striated, roughish, particularly the 

 upper one. Ligula lanceolate, striated. Inflorescence an erect close 

 panicle, from six to ten inches long; its branches rough, almost spiny^ 

 spreading when in flower ; the spikelets numerous, crowded, turned to 

 one side. Glumes nearly equal, long and narrow, purplish, rough 

 on tbe keel. Glumelles unequal, thin, and membranous ; external 

 valve the largest, about half tbe length of tbe glumes, having two mar- 

 ginal ribs and a dorsal one, which terminates between the bifid apex in 

 a roughish aim, nearly as long as tbe glumes ; tbe inner valve smaller, 

 entire, or bifid, with a single dorsal rib ; surrounded at the base exter- 

 nally by a tuft of soft, shining, silk-like hairs, which are at first shorter 

 than tbe glumes, but elongate as the seed ripens, and at length bear it 

 away. Tlie seed is small, attenuated at each end. Stigvias long, 

 united at tbe base, feathery. Anthers pale yellow. 



Habitat. — In moist shady situations. Dalrymple Wood, Ayr, Scot- 

 land — 3Tr. Goldie. Near Roche Abbey, Yorkshire — R. D. But most 

 frequent in tbe South, as about London, Norwich, and Kent. 



Perennial ; flowering in July. 



2. C. lan'ceolata. Roth. (Fig. 113.) inirple-flowered Small-reed. 

 Panicle erect, loose ; glumes lanceolate, their keel smooth ; exter- 

 nal valve of the glumelles shorter than the glumes and hairs. 



Lindley, Synopsis, p. 304. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 37. — 

 Arun'do Calamagros'tis, Linn. English Botany, t. 2159. — English 

 Flora, vol. i. p. 170. 



Root fibrous, woolly, a much smaller and slenderer plant than tbe 

 last. Stem, from three to four feet high, smooth, scarcely striated. 



TOU I. N 



