57 
AGROSTIS SETACEA. 
Curtis. Hooxrr anp Arnorr. Sire. Parnecy. Knapp. 
Baspineton. LinpLEy. WHITHERING. 
PLATE XVII. 
A. 
Agrostis alpina, Wirnerinc. Hutt. 
es cantina, var., Hupson. 
€f mutabilis, SIBTHORP. 
The Bristle-leaved Bent Grass. 
Agrostis—A_ Field. Setacea—Bristle-like. 
AN interesting very local species, confined to the dry downs 
of the south-west of England; being most abundant in Hamp- 
shire, Devonshire, and Cornwall, on sandy heaths, where it 
flourishes and finds food for flocks of sheep. 
It is a native of France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, 
Portugal, Turkey, and Greece. 
Root perennial, tufted, and fibrous. Stem circular, rough, 
and striated; carrying four or five very narrow rough leaves, 
with striated sheaths, the uppermost considerably longer than 
its leaf. Joints three. Leaves from the root long, setaceous, and 
crowded. Inflorescence compound panicled, upright and compact 
until in flower, then spreading. Spikelets small, acute, and 
numerous, consisting of two almost equal-sized glumes, and one 
floret shorter than the glumes. The floret consisting of two 
unequal-sized palee, the exterior one four-ribbed, base hirsute, 
summit jagged, having an awn as long again as the palea, 
arising from slightly above the base, and being rough and slender. 
Inner palea diminutive. Styles two. Stigmas feathery. Filaments 
L 
