GBASSY NOOKS. 159 



drooping panicle, with from three to six flowers in each 

 spikelet. The Spiked Fescue (F. loliacea) has its 

 flowers in alternate spikelets seated on the stem, and 

 somewhat resembles rye grass. The drooping spike 

 of the Wood Fescue (F. sylvatica) is easily recognized 

 in woods and hedgerows. The leaves are pale and 

 hairy, and the spikelets are placed alternately on the 

 stem, and has long awns. The Spiked Heath Fescue 

 (F. pinnata) has smooth foliage and shorter awns, but 

 in other respects somewhat resembles the wood fescue. 



By the hedge-side, creeping through the under- 

 growth, we find the graceful Brome Grasses (Sromwi), 

 often attaining a great height, and vying in grace with 

 the elegant cyperus sedge. There are some nine or ten 

 varieties of brome grass. The glumes are awnless, 

 and the solid spikelets contain several florets on erect 

 or most gracefully drooping panicles. 



The Oat Grasses (Aoena) are represented by the 

 true oat, and has members of various sizes, tenants of 

 the meadow, the corn-field, and the woodland. They 

 are distinguished by their lax panicles, two loose 

 membraneous glumes, and a small number of florets, 

 each of which has one paleae armed with a strong 

 twisted awn. It has been proved that the common 



