20 GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 



Dew Grass, White Top, White Bent, English Bent, 

 Bonnet Grass, (agrostis alba.') Generic characters same as 

 those of redtop. 



Specific characters : Stem erect, round, smooth, polished, 

 having four or five leaves with roug-hish sheaths, striated, upper 

 sheath longer than its leaf, crowned with a long, acute, ragged 

 ligule ; joints smooth, branches numerous, recumbent, rooting 

 at the lower joints where they come in contact with the ground, 

 as in Fig. 17 ; panicle somewhat narrower than in redtop, light- 

 ish green, or with a slight tinge of purple ; lower or inner 

 palea one-half the length of the upper, and shorter than the 

 glumes ; five nerved, awnless — perennial. Native of Europe. 



White top may be known from redtop by the sheaths being 

 rough to the touch from above downwards, and the ligule being 

 long and acute, and the keel of the large glume of the calyx 

 toothed nearly to the base. In agrostis vulgaris the sheaths 

 are smooth, ligule short and obtuse, and the keel of the large 

 glume toothed only on the iipper part. 



It may be known from Brown Bent, (agrostis canina,') by 

 having an inner palea in its floret, while in brown bent the 

 inner palea is wanting. Tliis grass is very common on the 

 Connecticut River meadows where it appears to be indigenous, 

 and is there called the English bent. Fiorin, (agrostis sto- 

 lo7iifera,') is only a variety of the white top, or agrostis alba, 

 which gained great notoriety some years ago in Ireland and 

 England, volumes having been written in its praise, while it 

 received the execrations of those who found it troublesome to 

 eradicate on account of its creeping and stoloniferous roots. 

 This grass belongs peculiarly to moist places which are occa- 

 sionally overflowed. Fig. 17 represents it, and Fig. 18, a mag- 

 nified flower. This grass is often used in the manufacture of 

 bonnets. It is called Dew grass in some sections. 



Brown Bent, or Dog's Bent Grass, (agrostis canina,') 

 another variety of agrostis, has for its specific characters, a 

 floret of one palea, sheaths smooth, ligule long, and grows from 

 one to two feet high, awnless. The root is perennial and creep- 

 ing. The stem is erect, slender, leaves flat and linear. The 

 palea shorter than the glume and furnished witli a long awn 

 on the back, bent ; spikelets at first greenish, afterwards brown 

 or slightly purple. Meadows and pastures, and wet, peaty 



