558 



GRAMfNE/E 



or shortly awned, enclosing the fruit. Resembling the Foxtails, 

 but distinguished from them by the possession of a pale. (Name 

 from the Greek plileh, some reed-like plant.) 



1, P. alpmum (Mountain Cat's-tail). — Stem solitary, ascending, 

 6 — 1 8 in. high ; leaf-sheaths inflated; ligule short ; spike oblong, 

 purplish, about an inch long ; glumes truncate, with bristly awns 

 as long as the glumes. — By streams on lofty Scottish mountains ; 

 rare. — Fl. July. Perennial. 



2. P. pratense (Timothy-grass, Meadow Cat's-tail). — Stem tufted, 

 ascending, smooth, i — 3 feet high ; leaf-sheaths not inflated ; 



ligule long ; spike cylindric, obtuse, i — 6 in. long, 

 green ; glumes truncate, with bristly awns, not 

 half as long as the glumes; anthers yellow or 

 purple. — Meadows; common. (Named after 

 Timothy Hanson who cultivated it in North 

 America.) — Fl. June — August. Perennial. 



3. P. phleoides (Purple-stalked Cat's-tail). — 

 Erect, like the Timothy-grass, but usually smaller; 

 outer glumes linear-lanceolate, tapering into a 

 minute, stiff point; margins white ; anthers \'mea.r- 

 oblong. — Dry fields in the eastern counties ; 

 rare. — Fl. July. Perennial. 



4. P. arendriwn (Sea. Csit's-tSiW). — Erect, 2 — 12 

 in. high; leaves broad, with long ligules, the 

 upper ones with inflated sheaths ; spike | — i in. 

 long, cylindric, tapering at the base, glaucous; 

 glumes lanceolate, tapering into a short point; 

 anthers minute, yellow. — Sandy coasts ; frequent. 

 — Fl. May — July. Annual. 



12. MiBORA, of which M. minima (Early Sand- 

 grass) is the only species, is a little tufted plant, 

 2 — 4 in. high; leaves short, bristly, rough, with 

 sheaths ; spikelets 5 — 10, minute, sub-sessile, 



PHL^TM PRATfiNS6 



{Meadow Cat's-tait). 



white, inflated 



purplish, awnless, dorsally compressed, 

 in. long ; flowering glume thin, very hairy, 



in a i-sided spike, J — i 

 truncate, jagged at top. — 



Wet sandy shores of Anglesea and the Channel Islands ; rare. — 



Fl. March, April. Annual. 



13. Agrostis (Bent). — A large genus having numerous small, 

 i-flowered spikelets in an elegant panicle, with whorled branches; 

 outer glumes boat-shaped, unequal, pointed, awnless ; flowering 

 glume shorter, transparent, with a short, slender, dorsal awn, or 

 awnless. (Name, the Greek name for some kind of grass.) 



1. A. setdcea (Bristle-leaved Bent). — Stems erect, rough, about 



