TALL OAT GRASS. 127 



drooping, when ripe ; lower pale with a short, bearded 

 tuft at the base. It blossoms in June. 



EARLY WILD OAT (Avena prcecox) is a dwarf species, 

 found in sandy fields from New Jersey to Virginia, 

 growing only from three to four inches high ; leaves 

 short and bristle-shaped. 



The COMMON OAT (Avena sativa) is well known to 

 every farmer. See next chapter. 



51. ARRHENATHERUM. Oat Grass. 



Spikelets two-flowered and a rudiment of a third, open ; 

 lowest flower staminate or sterile, with a long bent awn 

 below the middle of the back. 



TALL MEADOW OAT GRASS, or TALL OAT GRASS (Ar- 

 rhenatherum avenaceum), is the avena elatior of Linnaeus. 

 Spikelets open panicled, two-flowered, lower flower 

 stamiuate, bearing a long bent awn below the middle of 

 the back ; leaves flat, acute, roughish on both sides, 

 most on the inner ; panicle leaning slightly on one side ; 

 glumes very unequal; stems from two to three feet 

 high ; root perennial, fibrous, sometimes bulbous. It is 

 readily distinguished from other grasses by its having 

 two florets, the lower one having a long awn rising 

 from a little above the base of the outer palea. Intro- 

 duced. Flowers from May to July. Shown in Fig. 107. 

 A magnified spikelet is seen in Fig. 108. 



This is the Ray grass of France. It produces an 

 abundant supply of foliage, and is valuable for pasture 

 on account of its early and luxuriant growth. It is 

 often found on the borders of fields and hedges, woods 

 and pastures, and is sometimes very plenty in mowing 

 lands. After being mown it shoots up a very thick 

 aftermath, and, on this account, partly, is regarded as 

 nearly equal for excellence to the common meadow fox- 



