68 GRAMINEAD 
toothed with an awn twice its length. Perennial. This is a plant almost 
confined, in this country, to downs at the south and south-west of England. 
It has numerous rigid bright green leaves growing in tufts from the root; 
and bears, in June and July, numerous oblong panicles with short branches. 
It is said that no grass is pleasanter to the feet than this, and that the large 
natural downs which are composed of its turf, in Devonshire, are as neat as 
the best kept lawns. They need no mower’s hand to keep them so; nor, 
indeed, would these rigid leaves and stems yield to the scythe. On the open. 
downs of Cornwall, this grass, dwarf furze, and heather, constitute the 
principal vegetation. Its range extends from Cornwall to Sussex, and it is 
frequent in Surrey, Berkshire, and Glamorgan. 
3. Fine Bent-grass (4. vulgiris).—Panicle spreading, its branches 
almost smooth ; glumes nearly equal; flowering glume thin and unequal ; 
perennial ; spikelets, in one variety awned, in another awnless. ‘There is 
also a dwarf variety of this plant, not more than three inches high. This 
Bent is very common in every part of the kingdom ; in meadows and pastures, 
and by road-sides ; at the base of walls, or on other dry spots, often grow- 
ing in great plenty. Its slender stem is a foot and a half high ; and it bears, 
in June and July, clusters of numerous purplish spikelets, so delicate, and 
on branches so hair-like, that they quiver in every summer breeze. The 
small quantity of slender herbage which this grass produces is in perfection 
by the middle of April, and supplies a good, though slight pasture for cattle. 
This grass is often called Black Quitch. 
4. Fiorin or Marsh Bent-grass (A. dlba).— Branches of the panicle 
spreading when in flower, afterwards compact ; glumes nearly equal ; stems 
erect, but somewhat prostrate at the base ; and in the variety called stolontfera, 
rooting and throwing out long runners. ‘This is a perennial, and very 
common grass, stouter and taller than the preceding, growing abundantly 
in meadows, on sunny slopes, and by road-sides, being in leaf early in May, 
or, in forward springs, during April. It is a remarkably fertile plant, pro- 
ducing a large number of suckers; and it affords an excellent pasture for 
sheep. The short, flat, narrow, and acute leaves are rough on both sides ; 
and its flowers, which appear in July and August, are sometimes of a paler 
yellowish-green than those of most of the species, but are quite as often of 
a purplish colour ; the stalk is frequently a foot and a half or two feet high, 
though few grasses vary more on different soils. 
5. Spreading Silky Bent (A. spica-vénli).—Panicle loosely spreading ; 
glumes unequal ; awn straight, very stiff, and three or four times the length 
of the flowering glume. Annual. Slender and delicate as are all the species 
of Agrostis, and remarkable for their small spikelets, yet none are graceful and 
airy like this. The light and elegant panicle is often six inches long, and of 
pale green, but sometimes of pinkish hue, leaning on one side, and glossy as 
satin, nodding to every breath of the midsummer wind which sweeps across 
the sandy fields where it grows. Its rough and slender awns are many times 
as long as the spikelet. It is a rare grass, and found only in the counties 
between Yorkshire, Kent, and Hampshire. On spots occasionally inundated 
it becomes very luxuriant, its stem rising to the height of three feet, though, 
usually, about one or two feet only. Its long awns would prevent its being 
ed 
