A. CANINA, L. BROWN BENT -GRASS. 151 



florin does iiot seem to be us large, vigorous. |)ro<lu<!tiv(\ nr as 

 valuable as our own luitive red lop. 



Ayrrostis caniiia, L. Brown Beut, Rhode Island Bent, Fine 

 Top, Furze Top, Burden's Grass. — A very varial)le iicrennial, 

 mueh like small plants of ./ ridgarU. Culms 0-18 in. hi., stolo- 

 iiifcroiis. Ligule oblong. Panicle 2-4 in., contracting in fruit, 

 usually purple. Floral glumes shorter than the empty, 5-nerved : 

 awned on the hack, near the middle or below. Paloa minute .or 

 none. 



Widely distributed in cool regions. 



J. B. Alcott says: •* There is as mudi dilTerence between this 

 and red top as there is between the Tom Thumb pea and the 

 marrowfat. It will make beautiful, close, fine sod upon quite 

 sterile soils. This, red top will not do. It is especialb, satisfac- 

 tory for hiwns, which in strong soils is apt to overgrow." 



It makes very good pasture, though it is too small and grows 

 too closely to atford much of a bite. For tifteen years the writer 

 has watched it in Michigan, on thin soils and on rich soils, on 

 moist land and on dry, sandy land, and he unhesitatingly recom- 

 mends it as one of the very best grasses to mix with June grass 

 for producing a fine lawn. If sown alone, four bushels of seed 

 in the chaff is none too much. 



This grass, with considerable variation, is often found on 

 mountains in Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America. 



A small Agrosti^, probably A. vulgaris, of Europe, has been 

 much used for lawns, and by some it has passed for A. c.aninn. 



ALOPKcrurS. ].. FO\ 'JAIL. 



Spikelets 1-ilowered, flat, crowded into a head or cylindrical 

 spike-like panicle, jointed at the apex of the enlarged jaedicel, 

 flovv'ers perfect, (rluraes 3 or 4, the 3 outer empty, acute, awnless 

 or short awned, often connate below, flat-keeled, the keel ciliate 



Fig. 72. — 7, Plant oi Alopecurun praten»is, a little reduced; 2, spikelet , .9, floral 

 {rhime. (Trinus and Scribner.) 



