WATER MEADOW GRASS. 71 
half long and almost as broad. Its branches are numerous and carry 
a great number of spikelets. These are at first yellowish-green but 
after flowering they are bright brown, sometimes with a touch of 
purple. A spikelet contains from five to eight flowers, each of which 
is enclosed by two glumes. 
Geographical distribution: Water Meadow Grass is in- 
digenous to almost ail Europe and temperate Asia. In North 
America a closely related species, Glyceria grandis Wats, chiefly 
distinguished by its smaller flowers, takes the place of Glyceria 
aquatica and may be of equal agricultural value. 
Habitat: Water Meadow Grass occurs along muddy shores of 
lakes and streams, where it sometimes occupies vast areas to the 
exclusion of other grasses. It makes spendid growth in shallow 
waters with loose and swampy bottom, where the creeping root- 
stocks do not meet any resistance. In dry ground, where the root- 
stocks cannot develop properly, the growth is checked and the 
quality of the grass is poor. ; 
Agricultural value: Although stout, Water Meadow Grass is 
rather soft in texture and can be closely pastured by horses and cattle. 
Especially when young, the stems and shoots are palatable and 
greatly relished by stock. They are then sweet and highly nutritious. 
Although its value as a forage plant was recognized in some European 
countries in the eighteenth century, it is not extensively grown. 
Seed: The seed is scarce and often only the rootstocks are 
available in commerce. The seeds are broadly oblong. The outer 
of the two glumes is very blunt and provided with seven prominent 
nerves. The unhulled seed is generally greenish to yellowish-brown. 
The hulled seed is shining blackish brown, ovate to oblong, and about 
the length of Alfalfa seed. 
Least of all shall I stand to speak of the care he tookin.............. providing that the tenderer 
sort of Plants might receive no dammage by the Winters cold.—Pierre Cassendi, The Mirrour of True 
Nobility and Gentility, 1592-1655. 
The crops of corn die; a prickly forest of burrs and caltrops rises instead, and amidst the trim 
and healthy grain, wretched darnel and barren wild oats assert their sway. But unless you persecute 
the weeds by continual harrowing, and frighten away the birds by noises, and with the pruning knife 
keep down the foliage which shades the ground, and by prayers invoke the showers, alas, in vain will 
you view another's ample store, and solace your hunger with acorns in the woods.—Virgil, Georgics. 
B.C. 
