196 GRASSES OF BRITAIN. 



Gastridium LENDIGERUM. 



Nit-Grass. 

 Plate LXXXVI. 



Specific Character. — Awn of the floret longer than the glumes. 



Description Root annual, fibrous. Stem erect, round, hollow, 



smooth, and polished, from six to fifteen inches high, bearing 

 four or five leaves with mostly smooth sheaths; the upper sheath 

 longer than its leaf. Ligule prominent, pointed, longer than 

 broad. Joints usually three, the upper one generally covered 

 by the second sheath. Leaves flat, acute, rough from point to 

 base. Injiorescence compound panicled, close, of a pale-green, the 

 branches rough, arising in threes or foiu-s alternately along the 

 round, smooth rachis. Spihelets numerous, erect, composed of two 

 glumes and one floret. Glumes of rather unequal lengths, acute, 

 swelling at the base, keels green, strongly toothed on the upper half. 

 Floret about one-third the length of the glumes, of two palese, the 

 outer palea five-ribbed, frequently hairy, jagged at the summit, fur- 

 nished with a dorsal awn, which is sometimes wanting ; the inner 

 palea rather shorter than the outer, notched at the summit and 

 smooth on the lateral ribs. Aicn slender, rough, arising from a little 

 below the summit of the outer palea, and rather more than twice 

 the length of the palea. Styles two, distinct, very short. Stigmas 

 feathery. Filaments three, slender. Anthers notched at each end. 

 Scales acute. 



Obs. This grass is easily distinguished from any other British 



grass by the peculiar glossy tumid appearance at the base of the 

 glumes. It is by no means a common grass. It grows naturally in 

 fields where water has stagnated, especially near the sea, and has 

 been found in the counties of Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Hants, 

 Sussex, Surrey, Essex, Denbigh, and Flint. It is also a native of 

 France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, 

 Greece, North Africa, and the Islands of the Mediterranean. It 

 has not been found in Ireland or Scotland. Not known to be of any 

 agricultural value. 



Gasfridium Icndirjerum, Gand., Hooker, Lind., Link, Bah. Gastriditan australe, 

 Beauv., Kunth. Milium lendifjcrum, Linn., Smith, Eng. Bot, Afjrostis veniricosa, 

 Knapp. 



