204 A TEXT-BOOK OF GRASSES 
blades and an erect~open often reddish panicle usually 4 
to 8 inches long, with verticillate lower branches. A 
smaller form, Rhode Island bent (A. alba vulgaris), with 
finer foliage and a smaller more open panicle, is often 
used for lawns. Another form of Agrostis alba with 
creeping stems and narrow panicle is used for lawns 
under the name of creeping bent. 
Agrostis alba L. (Fig. 40) Redtop. Peren- 
nial; culms erect from a more or less decum- 
bent base bearing rhizomes, smooth, 1 to 4 feet 
Ve high; sheaths smooth; ligule membranaceous, 
b ‘i J y pointed, more or less lacerate, as much as 6 
.% ¥ 1, mm. long; blades flat, 2 inches to as much as 
ys y, a foot long, scabrous on both surfaces, strongly 
\ \p Bp nerved, acuminate, usually rather stiffly up- 
Sy Ae, right; panicle 2 to 12 inches long, open at 
( Nv Va Ky anthesis but usually more or less contracted 
Vi Ca Ae A , ; 
Sky \ ag Vi <5 in fruit, the branches in whorls, some naked 
NIE, below, others short and _ spikelet-bearing at 
base; glumes 2 to 3 mm. long, lanceolate, 
pointed, scabrous on the keel, the lemma thin, 
a little shorter than the glumes, the palea half 
to two-thirds as long as the lemma. The color 
of the panicle varies from greenish to purple or 
brown. This grass has escaped from cultiva- 
tion or has been introduced over a large part of 
the United States. In the western mountains 
the species is doubtfully native. This grass is 
known by the name of herd’s-grass in some 
localities, especially in Pennsylvania. In Eng- 
land it is called fiorin. 
Agrostis alba vulgaris (With.) Thurb. Rhode 
Island bent. Differs from the preceding in the 
smaller size, more delicate 
culms and foliage, smaller 
and especially more open 
and fewer-flowered panicle, 
Fic. 40. Agrostis alba. Inflorescence and z “ 
rhizomes, X14; spikelet, X5. this not contracted in 
