210 MORTUS GRAMINEUS W O 15 U K N F. N S I S. 



proportion of 10 to 9; and the grass of the latter-math i« 

 inferior to that at tlie time of flowering as 8 to 10; and to 

 the e:rass at the time the seed is ripe, in the proportion ol 

 8 tol3. 



It flowers about the second week of July, and the seed is 

 ripe about the end of August. 



PHLEIJM Boehmeri. Purple-stalked CatVtail Grass. Pha- 

 laris ph/eoides. Cat's-tail Canary-Grass. 



Specific character : Panicle like a spike, cylindrical ; 



husks of the calyx linear-lanceolate, slightly pointed, 



nearly smooth, abrupt at the inner margin; stem 



simple. 

 Native of Britain. Root fibrous, perennial. 

 Experiments.— kt the time of flowering, the produce from 



a siliceous sandy soil is 6,806 lbs. per acre. 



The produce of foliage in the spring from this grass is 

 comparatively nothing, as is the case with the latter-math 

 produce. The root-leaves are remarkably short in this spe- 

 cies of canary-grass, and the culms are numerous. At the 

 time of flowering, the produce may be said to consist entirely 

 of culms. It grows naturally in dry sandy places ; said to 

 have been first discovered in Great Britain by Mr. Wood- 

 ward and Mr. Crow, near Swaffham, Norfolk, in 1780. It 

 is also a native of Germany, where it grows in pastures, 

 orchards, hills, and dry sandy barren places. It is evi- 

 dently unfit for cultivation in the farm, as the above pro- 

 duce constitutes what it yields in one season, and which, 

 when compared with that of most other grasses affecting a 

 similar soil, proves greatly inferior. It ripens plenty of seed 

 for its propagation. 



It flowers in July, and the seed is ripe in the beginning 

 of September. 



FESTUCA alopecurus. Fox-tail-like Fescue-grass. 



Specific character : Spike erect, attenuated ; calyx-valves 

 very unequal, outer large, three-nerved, acuminate, 

 inner very minute, awl-shaped ; corolla, outer valve 



