CLASS HI. ORDER II.] CALAMAGROSTIS. 89 



GENUS XXIV. CALAMAGROS'TIS. ADANS. Small Reed. 



GEN. CHAU. Panicle loose. Glumes two, longer than the glumelles. 

 Glumelles of two unequal valves, surrounded with hairs at the base, 

 the outer valve awned beneath the bifid apex. Name from 

 xa^a^of, a reed, pipe, or straw, and ayfoo-nj, agrostis, a genus of 

 grasses. 



1. C. Epige'jos, Roth. (Fig. 112.) small Wood-reed. Panicle erect, 

 close ; flowers crowded, unilateral ; glumes subulate, their keel 

 rough ; awn of the external valve of the glumelles about as long 

 as the hairs and glumes. 



Lindley, Synopsis, p. 304. Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 36. 

 Arun'do cpige'jos, Linn. English Botany, t. 403. English Flora, vol.i. 

 p. 169. 



Root with creeping underground stems. Stem from four to six feet 

 high, slender, finely striated, smooth in t"he lower part, roughish in the 

 upper, leafy, frequently branched in the lower part. Leaves linear 

 lanceolate, with a long narrow tapering point, roughish, especially 

 beneath, glaucous. Sheaths close, striated, roughish, particularly the 

 upper one. Ligula lanceolate, striated. Inflorescence an erect close 

 panicle, from six to ten inches long ; its branches rough, almost spiny, 

 spreading when in flower ; the spikelets numerous, crowded, turned to 

 one side. Glumes nearly equal, long and narrow, purplish, rough 

 on the keel. Glumelles unequal, thin, and membranous; external 

 valve the largest, about half the length of the glumes, having two mar- 

 ginal ribs and a dorsal one, which terminates between the bifid apex in 

 a roughish awn, nearly as long as the glumes j. the inner valve smaller, 

 entire, or bifid, with a single dorsal rib ; surrounded at the base exter- 

 nally by a tuft of soft, shining, silk-like hairs, which are at first shorter 

 than the glumes, but elongate as the seed ripens, and at length bear it 

 away. The seed is small, attenuated at each end. Stigmas long, 

 united at the base, feathery. Anthers pale yellow. 



Habitat. In moist shady situations. Dalrympje Wood, Ayr, Scot- 

 land Mr. Goldie. Near Roche Abbey, Yorkshire R. D. But most 

 frequent in the South, as about London, Norwich, and Kent. 

 Perennial ; flowering in July. 



2. C. lan'ceolata, Roth. (Fig. 113.) purple-flowered Small-reed. 

 Panicle erect, loose ; glumes lanceolate, their keel smooth ; exter- 

 nal valve of the glumelles shorter than the glumes and hairs. 

 Lindley, Synopsis, p. 304. Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 37. 

 Arun'do Calamagros'tis, Linn. English Botany, t. 2159. English 

 Flora, vol. i. p. 170. 



Root fibrous, -woolly, a much smaller and slenderer plant than the 

 last. Stem from three to four feet high, smooth, scarcely striated. 



