62 GRAMINEA 
Fox-tail is about a foot high, sometimes prostrate below, and the lowermost 
knots become lar ge, oval, and fleshy tubers, generally of a rich purple colour. 
The dense panicle is dark green, about an inch long, and appears in July. 
6. Orange-spiked Fox-tail (4. /fulvus).—Stem kneed at the joints; 
panicle spiked, cylindrical, blunt ; empty glumes united at the base, slightly 
hairy. Perennial. The spike of this Fox-tail, which is two or three inches 
long, is conspicuous in July by its orange-coloured anthers. The plant grows 
in ponds and ditches, but is local. Its stem is one or two feet in length, 
and bending below. This is another sub-species of 4. geniculdtus, but the 
awn is much shorter, and the spike is more slender and of a lighter colour. 
5. (7) CANARY-GRASS (Phdlaris). 
1. Canary-grass (P. canariénsis).—Panicle large, spiked, erect, oval ; 
empty glumes winged on the keel. Annual. Stray « specimens of this hand- 
some grass, naturalized on spots near to fields in which it has been culti- 
vated, may often be gathered both in England and Scotland. We find it 
among our corn in July, or on some field border, its conspicuous panicle 
growing on a sea-green stem, one or two feet high, and its leaves lance- 
shaped, rather long, broad, and soft. It has been cultivated in this country 
that its seeds may supply food for caged birds, since the time of Queen 
Elizabeth, and is believed to have been introduced by the emigrants from 
the Netherlands. Large fields of it may yet be seen in some places. The 
panicle is of a pale straw-colour, the chaffy glumes edged and marked with 
green, and remarkably keeled at the back. 
2. Reed Canary-grass (P. arundindcea).—Panicle erect, with spreading 
branches; the spikelets numerous and crowded in a mass; empty glumes 
not winged ; rootstock creeping. Perennial. This grass is, in its general 
appearance, altogether unlike the last, but is similar in the structure of its 
florets. Its stem is sometimes five feet high, and its flowers are, in June and 
July, very conspicuous by river sides, where it is not infrequent, and where 
its pale green or purplish panicle nods to the wind. In its early growth this 
is close, spreading only when nearly of its full length, which is about six 
inches. The large rootstocks creep into the soft soil, rendering it firmer, and 
its broad long flat leaves are slightly rough on both sides. There is a variety 
of this plant, variegata, in which the leaves are striped with pale yellow or 
white, known in gardens as Painted Grass, Ribbon Grass, or Gardener’s 
Garters, and prized more for its foliage than for its flowers. Parkinson, who 
wrote his “Garden of Flowers” in the time of Charles II., concluded his 
work by a description of grasses, and tells his readers that he has led them 
through his gardens of pleasure, and showed them all the variety nursed 
therein, and adds: “TI shall now, lastly, according to the use of our old 
ancient Fathers, bring you to rest on the grasse, which yet shall not be with- 
out some delight, and that not the least of all the rest.” He says of the 
other grasses, ‘‘ that they are known only to a few ;” and very short is his 
own list of their number. This old writer, however, remarks of the Painted 
Grass, ‘The French call it Aiguillettes d Armes, of the fashion that their 
ensignes, pennons or streamers used in wars were of, that is like unto a 
party-coloured curtain.” He adds, that in England it is usually called 
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