14€ CYKOSURDS. 



[CtASS III. oassB II. 



Dearly equal, lanceolate ; the outer pointed or awned at the apex- 

 — Name from xvwv, a dog, and ovp«, a tail ; from the resemblance 

 of the spike to a dog's tail. 



L C. crista tus, Linn. (Fig. 187.) crested Dog^$-tail-gras$. Panicle 

 spiked, linear ; florets with a short awn or point. 



English Botiiny, t. 316. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 137. — Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 300. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 48. — Sinclair, Hort. 

 Gram. Woburn. p. 152. 



Root of long, smooth fibres. Plant tufted. Stom erect, from one to 

 two feet high, round, smooth, striated, slender, leafy below, naked 

 above. Leaves narrow, with a long point, quite smooth, striated. 

 Sheaths close, smooth, striated. Ligula short, obtuse, crenated or torn. 

 Injloresceiicc an erect, close, linear, one-sided, spike-like panicle ; the 

 spikelets on short, simple, or subdivided branches, fixed alternately 

 upon an angular, waved, smooth, or fdightly hairy rachis, from three to 

 five-flowered, each spikelet having at its base a compressed pectinated 

 bractea, its divisions naiTow, linear, acute, the margins pale and mem- 

 branous, the keel rough. Glumes nearly equal, linear-lanceolate, pale 

 and membranous, as long as the florets, the keel gieen and rough. 

 Glumelles equal : the outer valve lanceolate-acute, roughish especially 

 towards the apex, obscurely ribbed, the keel terminating in a short 

 rough awn : inner valve membranous, with two strong, green, roughish 

 lateral ribs, terminating in a short point, the apex bifid. Stigmas long 

 and feathery. Fruit oblong, furrowed on one side. Anther yellow or 

 purple. 



Habitat. — Dry meadows and pastures ; common everywhere. 



Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 



This grass is no less useful than it is common. From its flowering 

 stems being mostly refused by cattle, and left to stand withered and 

 bleaching in the sun, it has been estimated as a grass of inferior value: 

 this, however, is not found to be the case. The long fibrous roots with 

 which it is furnished, produce a tliick tuft of herbage, and support it 

 in a green and succulent state during a long continuance of dry wea- 

 ther: hence it is a grass well suited for dry lands, and is found to 

 flourish equally well in damp situations. Its foliage is short, and of 

 rather slow growth, — circumstances which render it less fitted for pur- 

 poses of making hay, or for the alternate husbandry, but for permanent 

 pastures, especially fur sheep, it is most admirably adapted. 



2. Cechina'tuSylArwi. (Fig. 188.) rough Dog^f -tail-grass. Panicle 

 spiked, ovate ; florets with a long awn. 



English Botany, t. 1330. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 138. — Liudley, 

 Synopsis, p. 306. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 48. — Sinclair, Hort. 

 Gram. Woburn. p. 320. 



Root with downy fibres. Stem erect, round, smooth, slender, leafy, 



