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THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



fore well worth knowing. It is of slender make, with roughish 

 stem, the panicle green, much branched, the steins of the spikelets 

 long and wiry, the leaves taper pointed. 



There are three species (so-called) of Quaking grass, and they 

 are, perhaps, the loveliest of all the grasses that find their way into 

 the garden. The Great Quaking grass, Briza maxima, is nothing 

 other than a robust form of the common Quaking grass, Briza media, 

 and this being the queen of British grasses, we present a portrait 

 of her face, life-size. The Cocksfoot grass, Dactylis glomerata, you 

 will soon learn to distinguish as a wild plant, by observation of the 

 low, tufted, broad-leaved, variegated grass of the same name grown in 

 gardens. 



The Crested Dogstail, Cynosurus cristalus, is peculiarly distinct, 

 with rigid, hard-looking spike of a lilac hue. It grows everywhere, 

 and is everywhere welcome for the valuable herbage it affords. 



Sheep's "Fescue, Festuca ovina, is a peculiarly fine-leaved grass 



COMMON QUAKING GEASS. 



growing in tufts on sandy soils, where it constitutes a most elegant 

 rich green herbage. The panicles are unattractive. It varies much 

 in character in different localities, and a blue-leaved variety is grown 

 in gardens. In Greenwich Park three or four varieties may be 

 found, one of them having leaves as fine as hairs. On heath lands 

 a viviparous form of this grass may often be met with. This variety 

 does not produce flowers. Everywhere, by the sides of dusty roads, 

 and on old brick walls and chimney-stacks, a rather ugly, short, 

 sturdy, barley-like grass will be found, but scarcely ever does the 

 vagrant trespass on the meadows. It is the "Wall Barley, or "Way 

 Bennet, Hordeum murinum. This is the grass that children put up 

 their sleeves to vary the monotony of school-work. 



Finally, to dispose of the grasses, mention must be made of the 

 Darnel, Loliiim temulentum, which is by no means common, though 

 plentiful in some localities. The leaves are flat and rough on the 

 upper side. The stem rises two or three feet high, bearing two 





