150 WILD FLOWEBS OB 1 SUMMER. 



stamens, we shall find where we sit. This is a small 

 annual grass. Its flowers are contained in short spike- 

 heads, broader at the bottom than the top, and not 

 very compact. This ives out when drying the sweet 

 fragrance of the hay-field, and it flowers earlier in the 

 spring than the majority of grasses. 



For the distinguishing characteristics of the other 

 grasses around us, we must look to the marks in the 

 glumes and paleos; for all other grasses have three 

 stamens and two pistils. 



Let us take the Foxtail family first, for they are 

 easily distinguished, and are common enough, lording 

 it over meadow and corn-fields, and frequenting the 

 road-sides and sludgy marsh. In this family, known 

 under the generic title of Alopecurus, the two or three 

 glumes enclose a single floret only. They may be 

 known by their cylindrical spikes covered with orange 

 coloured anthers. The Meadow Foxtail (A. pratensis) 

 is one of the early meadow grasses, and grows like its 

 relative the Slender Foxtail (A. agrestis), which flowers 

 later, by the road-side and in the corn-fields, to the 

 height of three feet. By the margin of pools we may 

 find the Floating Foxtail (A. geniculatus) : its rough 

 stem, bent at the joints, distinguishes it from its more 



