2l6 



COMMON WEEDS 



food is available. All 

 such useless or harmful 

 grasses should, where 

 possible, be reduced, and 

 an effort made to im- 

 prove pastures and 

 meadows, so that they 

 yield the maximum of 

 good herbage. 



Mat- weed (Nardus 

 strida L.), also known 

 as Mat-grass, is a small 

 perennial only a few 

 inches high, with densely 

 tufted slender leaves and 

 creeping rootstock, an 

 erect wiry stem and 

 solitary spikes, with all 

 the spikelets on one side 

 (Fig. 65). Flowering 

 occurs in June and July. 

 This grass is common 

 upon heaths and dry 

 upland pastures, and on 

 account of its hard, wiry 

 character is refused by 

 sheep. 



Floating Foxtail (Alo- 

 pecurus geniculatiis L.) is 

 occasionally trouble- 

 some on damp and wet 

 meadows and in ditches 

 and ponds, growing so 

 freely that shallow 

 ponds may almost be filled up by it. It is a smooth 



FIG. 65. Mat-grass (Nardus stricta L.), 

 nat. size, with enlarged spikelet. 



