70 GRASSES OF SCOTLAND. 



of birds they were likewise in general use for writing. They also oc- 

 casionally serve for arrows. The young shoots cut off from the root, 

 where not exposed to the light, make an excellent pickle. The nest 

 of the sedge-warbler is generally found suspended between the stems 

 at a small height from the ground. Entomologists may sometimes 

 find a considerable variety of insects on the panicles, whither they re- 

 sort for food or shelter," * and it also forms an excellent shelter for 

 wild-fowl. 



This is a common plant in Scotland, England, and Ireland, found 

 in ditches, margins of lakes, and rivers. It is also a native of l^ap- 

 land, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, Portu- 

 gal, Italy, Russia, North Africa, New Holland, British America, and 

 the United States. 



Elowers in August, and ripens its seed in September. 



48. Triodia decumbens. f 

 Heath- Grass. 



Specific Characters. — Florets four. Glumes smooth. (Plate 

 XXX.) 



Description. — It grows from five to twelve inches in length. The 

 root is perennial, somewhat creeping, with strong fibres. Stem 

 smooth, round, striated, bearing three or four leaves with somewhat 

 hairy sheaths, the upper sheath shorter than its leaf, crowned with a 

 tuft of hairs in place of a ligule. Joints smooth. Leaves linear, nar- 

 row, smooth on the lower part, very rough towards the points. Li- 

 jflorescence racemed or simple panicled. Panicle of few spikelets. 

 Spikelets rather large, of foiu- awnless florets, not extending beyond the 

 calyx, erect, on smooth footstalks arising alternately on the rachis. 

 CaZyx of two nearly equal acute smooth glumes (Fig. 1), three-rib- 

 bed. Florets of two paleae (Fig. 2), the outer palea of lowermost 

 floret of an ovate form, five-ribbed, three-toothed at the summit, hairy 

 at the base. Inner palea broad, obtuse, furnished with two green mar- 

 ginal ribs minutely fringed. 



Obs. — Triodia decumbens is distinguished from the genus Poa in 



* M^ithering's Bontuh Plant a. 



+ Triodia decumbens, Hooker, liiiuUey, Kocli. Fcntitca decumbem, Liiui. Poa decmi- 

 h.ns, Withii-ing, ymith, Greville, Hooker, Fl. S:ot. 



