94 AGKOSTIS. 



CLASS Ul. ORDER. II. 



4. A. vulga'ris, Withering, (Fig. WH.) fine Bent-grass. Panicle 

 loose, its branches smoothish, diverging; glumes nearly equal; 

 glumelles with the outer valve three-ribbed ; ligula abrupt, ex- 

 tremely short. 



English Botany, t. 1671. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 92. — Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 303. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 38. — Sinclair, Hort. 

 Gram. Woburn. p. 269. 



^. arista ta, outer valve of the glumelles bearing an awn. 



Agros'tis cani'na, Withering. — A. vulga'ris cani'na, Sinclair, Hort. 

 Gram. Woburn. p. 271. 



y. pumil'a, whole plant much smaller, scarcely three inches high. — 

 Lightfoot, Scot. p. 1081. fig. in title-page. 



jRoo< tufted, putting out roots and branches from the lower joints. 

 Steins mostly numerous, ascending, from oue to tv.o feet high, leafy, 

 slender, finely striated, smooth below, rougliish above. Leaves linear, 

 tapering at the point, rough. SkcatJis long, close, striated, smooth. 

 Ligula extremely short and truncate, the upper one the longest, but 

 never so long as in the following species. lujlcrescence a.loose branched 

 panicle, the rachis nearly smooth, the branchlets more cr less hispid, 

 slender, capillary. Glumes lanceolate, nearly equal, shining, mostly 

 purple, smooth except on the keel. Glumelles of two unequal pale 

 membranous valves ; the outer scarcely as long as the glumes^ three- 

 nerved, which terminate in three teeth, awnless, or with a dorsal awn 

 of uncertain length arising from beneath the middle of the valve when 

 it is the variety /3., but not unfrequently wc have seen on the same 

 specimen some florets with awns and others witliout; inner valve about 

 half the size, two-nerved, bifid. Dr. Hooker mentions his having spe- 

 cimens of this species bearing the rudiment of a second flower upon a 

 rather long footstalk, in the same calyx. It is said to be found in a 

 viviparous state in moist shady situations. Anthers scarcely project 

 beyond the glumes. Styles separate. Stigmas feathery. 



Habitat. — In pastures, and dry waste places, very common. 



Perennial ; flov.cring from July to A ugust. 



The value of this grass for agricultural purposes is very trifling; its 

 best recommendation is its early produce, but this is far from l)eing 

 abundant, and the nutritive matter which it contains is inconsiderable. 

 It thrives best on a sandy soil. 



6. A. al'ba, Linn. (Fig. 119.) Marsh Bent-grass. Panicle loose, its 

 branches rough ; glumelles with the outer valve five-ribbed ; li- 

 gula oblong. 

 English Botany, t. 1189.— English Flora, vol. i. p. 93.— Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 303. — Hooker, Hritish Flora, vol. i. p. 39. — A. re'prns, p. 

 344 ; A. sldlonifrra arista' ta, p. 345 ; A. stolonifcra anguslifolia, p. 

 346 ; A. paUis'tris, p. 348 ; A. stolonif'era latifo'lia, p. 225, is the cek- 

 braled Horin grass. Sincluiv, Iloit. Grain. Woburn. p. 343< 



