74 GRAMINEA® 
March to June. This changes as it grows older into a purplish-blue colour, 
and its large anthers are of a deep purple hue. In continental countries both 
flowers and foliage are of a deeper and more decided blue than on our moun- 
tains. The stem of the Moor-grass is from six to eighteen inches high, and 
its leaves are rather blunt, with a minute point, and rough on the keel and 
edges. It is most abundant in limestone districts in the north of England, 
and grows also on the banks of the Shannon. 
24. (1) PANICK-GRASS (Pdnicum). 
Loose Panick-grass (P. crus-galli)._Spikelets alternate or opposite in 
panicles ; glumes 2, lower small; flowering glumes awned, or tipped with a 
short, rough spine. Annual. This is a coarse grass, not truly wild, but 
naturalized in moist fields about the south-east counties of England. ‘The 
spikelets are near together, and at the base of each are two or three long 
bristles. The leaves are broad, harsh-edged, tinged with purple, and the 
seeds are very large. It flowers in July. Digitaria is included in this genus 
by some authors. 
25. (2) BRISTLE-GRASS (Setd77a). 
1. Rough Bristle-grass (8. verticilldta).—Panicle spike-like ; bristles of 
the spikelets rough, solitary or in pairs, with erect teeth; flowering glumes 
smooth, very hard and firm. Annual. This is a naturalized grass, very 
local, and rarely plentiful on any spot. It has been found about London 
and Norwich, in cultivated fields, and bears in June and July its pale green, 
or pinkish, or deeper purple flowers. 
2. Green Bristle-grass (S. viridis).— Panicle spike-like; bristles 
clustered, rough, with teeth which turn downwards; flowering glumes 
smooth. Annual. The crowded spikelets of this grass, with long, rough 
bristles at their base, are usually green, though occasionally tinged with 
purple. It flowers in July and August, growing in cultivated fields from 
Aberdeen to Devon and Kent, but is not a true native of Britain. 
3. Glaucous Bristle-grass (S. glaica).—Panicle spike-like; bristles 
with erect teeth ; flowering glumes wrinkled. Annual. This species is dis- 
tinguished chiefly by the wrinkled glumes. It has long, slender leaves, hairy 
at the base, and its bristles are numerous and rigid. It flowers in October, 
but is not a native, and occurs only casually in corn-fields. 
26. (39) MEADOW-GRASS (Péa). 
1. Reed Meadow-grass (P. aqudtica).—Panicle erect, much branched ; 
spikelets oblong, many-flowered; empty glumes small, egg-shaped, thin ; 
flowering glumes much larger than the empty glumes. Perennial. The 
margins of our rivers, lakes, and standing waters have their grassy borders, 
among whose herbage grow some of the brightest of our wild flowers. One 
of the tallest and most plentiful of the grasses by the river is this Reed 
Meadow-grass, which grows either by the side of flowing or standing waters 
in great abundance. It might serve by its height to remind us of the grasses 
of warmer climates, for its stout stem is occasionally, in favourable situations, 
six feet high. It is a native of most parts of Europe, and abounds in the fens 
