GRASS TRIBE 89 
This species is not indigenous, but is found occasionally in corn-fields, where 
“The bristly barley’s purple bloom 
Waves in the gale its egret plume, 
Waves in the gale as lightly float 
The pendants of the bearded Oat.” 
It is much like the Oat, among which it often grows ; but its upright panicle, 
and the long straight bristles at the end of the florets, form a distinction 
both from that plant and the last species. Its stem is two or three feet high, 
round and smooth, the leaves are rather broad and rough, the spikelets large 
and oval, their glumes marked with green lines. It flowers in June and 
July. 
3. Narrow-leaved Perennial Oat (4. praténsis).—Panicle erect, 
loose, its branches either simple or little divided ; spikelets oblong, erect, of 
3—6 flowers, longer than the glumes. Perennial. In this plant the lower 
leaves are rolled inwards, and their sheaths nearly smooth ; but in the variety 
alpina the lower leaves are short and flat, and the sheaths somewhat rough. 
This is not a meadow grass of the low-lands, though found on some dry 
pastures, chiefly in mountainous regions, and it often grows in the crevices of 
rocks, and sometimes on dry open heaths. The stem is one or two feet high, 
smooth and glossy, the leaves shining, but more or less rough to the touch. 
The spikelets are tinged with brown, and their twisted awns are often nearly 
twice as long as the glumes; cattle sometimes eat its foliage. It flowers in 
June and July. 
4, Flat-stemmed Oat (4. planicilmis).—Panicle erect, with many rigid 
short branches ; spikelets erect, 5—7-flowered, narrow, oblong ; florets much 
longer than the glumes. Perennial. This grass has broad leaves, tapering 
suddenly to a point, with very fine serratures at the edges, and flat-keeled 
leaf sheaths, the lower part so flat as to become two-edged. It flowers in 
July. It was reported by Mr. Stuart Murray, in 1826, as growing in the 
Isle of Arran, in Scotland, but though Sir W. J. Hooker remarked that it had 
ever since been cultivated in the Botanic Gardens of Glasgow, its occurrence 
in a wild state in these islands has never been confirmed. 
5. Downy Oat (A. pubéscens).—Panicle erect, almost without branches ; 
spikelets erect, 2-flowered. Perennial. This isa pretty grass in June and July, 
when it is in flower in dry pastures. Its spikelets are much smaller than those 
of the last species, and in the sunshine they glisten as if cut out of silver and 
tinged with purple, in a slender cluster three or four inches long, their hue 
differing from that of any other wild oat-grass. The plant is not infrequent 
in chalk or limestone districts. The stem is one or two feet high, and the 
upper leaf has a remarkably long sheath. The leaves are somewhat broad, 
flat, flaccid, and downy on both sides. The long awns, which are of purplish 
colour, twist and often cross each other. 
6. Yellow Oat (A. flavéscens).—Panicle much branched ; glumes very 
unequal; spikelets usually 2-flowered; somewhat creeping, and perennial. 
This is among the commonest of the Oat-grasses, and may be seen in July, 
on dry sandy or stony meadows, where it is conspicuous by its cluster of 
glossy yellow flowers, which is often four inches long. ' The stem is about a foot 
high, and the hairy leaves are of a light grcen hue. The shining spikelets 
y.—-12 
