66 GRAMINEA 
tall slender grass, conspicuous in our moist shady woods, where it is often 
very abundant, its stem rising to the height of four feet, and its broad smooth 
leaves of a delicate bright green colour. In June it bears numerous very 
small light green spikelets, the middle branches of the panicle drooping. It 
is a very elegant grass, and in winter its tall slender stems and branches, 
turned to a pale straw-colour, often occupy a large space of ground when 
flowers have faded away from the wood. The grass is not a nutritious one 
for cattle, but birds eat the seeds. 
10. (16) Nit-Grass (Gastridium). 
Awned Nit-grass ((. lendigerum).—Panicle spiked; empty glumes 
tapering to a point, shorter than the awn of the flowering glume. Perennial. 
This little grass, which varies in height from four to eight inches, bears in 
August a close panicle of numerous pale yellowish-green glossy florets, much 
swollen at the base, and their form affords a ready means of identifying the 
plant. It is a rare grass, growing in the maritime counties, generally in 
sandy places where water has stood during winter. 
11. (10) FEATHER-GRASS (Stipa). 
Common Feather-grass (S. pennita).— Awns very long, fringed 
throughout their length ; leaves rigid and bristle-like. Perennial. This is 
included in our list of British Grasses, because it is said to have grown, in 
the time of Dillenius, on limestone rocks near Kendal in Westmoreland ; but 
as it has not been seen there since 1720, it was no doubt a garden escape. 
Most persons are familiar with it as a garden ornament in summer, its long 
feathery tufts, so like the tail feather of a Bird of Paradise, growing two or 
three feet high. Gerarde mentions that this grass was in his time worn in 
the hair instead of feathers ; and Parkinson, writing somewhat later, refers 
to its use as an ornament by ladies, after recent illness. ‘I have knowne,” 
he says, “that many gentlewomen have used it, being tyed in tufts to set 
them about their beds, which have been much admired of the ladies and 
gentlemen that have come to visit them.” The grass isa native of dry rocky 
and sandy spots in the south of Europe, and is very common in Austria. 
It is easy of cultivation, provided that the seeds are sown soon after they 
are ripe. 
12. (6) Bearp-Grass (Polypdgon). 
1. Annual Beard-grass (LP. monspéliensis). — Panicle crowded and 
spike-like ; awns remarkably long ; empty glumes rough and blunt. Annual. 
This light and elegant Grass is found only in a few moist meadows near the 
sea, in Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, Essex, and Norfolk. Its dense silky panicle 
is, in July and August, beautifully tinted with different shades of green 
and pale greyish-purple, and is one or two inches long, on a stem from 
6 inches to 4 feet high. It has slender hairy leaves, and is a very common 
grass in Southern Europe. 
2. Perennial Beard-grass (P. litiordlis). —Empty glumes smooth, 
tapering to a point, and with awns about their length. This, too, is a rare 
grass, occurring in muddy salt-marshes, as in those near Woolwich, and on 
