104 ARRHENATHERUM. [CLASS in. O&DIR II. 



from near the base of the outer valve; the upper perfect, anxl the 

 outer valve with a short straight bristle from near the apex. 

 Name from ffmv, a male, and aSrj^, the awn or beard ; in reference 

 to the male floret bearing an awn. 



1. A. avena'ceum, Beauv. (Fig. 130.) common Oat-like grass. 



Lindley, Synopsis, p. 305. Hooter, British Flora, vol. i. p. 42. 

 Hol'cus avena'ceus, Scop. English Botany, t. 813. English Flora, vol. 

 i. p. 109. Sinclair, Hort. Gram. Woburn. p. 169. Ave'na eld'tior t 

 Linn. Hudson. Arrhenath'erum bulbo'sum, Dumorticr, Lindley. 



Root of numerous strong woolly fibres. Stem erect, from one to 

 three feet high, the base frequently swollen into knots or tubere, 

 which are smooth or hairy, the joints in the lower part of the stem are 

 generally numerous and they also are frequently swollen, and are 

 more or less hairy, the stem smooth, leafy. Leaves linear lanceolate, 

 rough above, smooth beneath. Sheaths striated, smooth, long, espe- 

 cially the upper ones. Inflorescence a long loose spreading panicle, 

 its branches roughish, of various lengths, arising in half whorls, and 

 mostly drooping on one side. Spikelets numerous. Glumes unequal, 

 smooth, thin membranous, the upper valve largest lanceolate, three 

 ribbed, the lower much smaller, single ribbed. Florets two surrounded 

 at the base with a tuft of short white bristles, the lower sessile, neuter, 

 bearing stamens only ; the outer valve lanceolate, roughish, six-ribbed, 

 bifid at the apex, thin and membranous on the edges, and arising from 

 above the base is a long jointed rough awn, twisted in the lower part, 

 tapering above ; inner valve thin, membranous, bifid at the apex, the 

 margins inflexed from the twoj lateral greenish and hairy ribs j the 

 upper floret on a short hairy footstalk, outer valve five-ribbed, the dorsal 

 one terminating between the bifid apex in a short straight rough awn, 

 the margins membranous. Antliers mostly pinkish. Stigmai long^ 

 feathery. Seed invested by the hardened glumelles. 



Habitat. Hedges, pastures, and waste places, common. 



Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 



This grass, the only known species of the genus, has the habit of, 

 and in natural affinity is nearly allied to, Avena. The enlarged joints 

 and tuberous base of the stems vary, as well as their hairiness according 

 to the more or less humid situation in which they have grown. It is a 

 grass of considerable agricultural value, is eaten by all kinds of cattle, 

 and ought to form a part of all permanent pastures, though not in too 

 great a proportion, as, according to the experiments of Sinclair, it con- 

 tains too large a proportion of bitter extractive and saline matter ; the 

 quantity of herbage which it produces during the whole summer, is 

 very considerable. In dry, sandy arable lands, the tubers spread about, 

 and it becomes a very troublesome weed. 



