170 DIGITARIA. [CLASS m. ORDER n. 



gular, rough, one longer than the other, arranged alternately at each 

 flexture of the rachis. Glumes of two very unequal valves : the outer 

 one very small, ribbed, often absent; the inner oblong, the length of 

 the florets, with about five ribs, purple, smooth except on the margin, 

 which is rough or downy. Florets two, smooth, and glossy, becoming 

 hard and cartilaginous : the perfect, one of two nearly equal valves ; 

 the outer concave with inflexed ir.rugins, the inner flat : the imperfect 

 floret of one valve. Anthers small. Style thread-shaped, as long as 

 the stamens. Stigmas short, feathery. Fruit enclosed in the hardened 

 glumella, 



Habitat. In cultivated fields, Battersea Fields, near London. The 

 other statious given in English Flora, &c it is thought belong to the 

 following species. 



Annual ; flowering in July and August.- 



This plant is of no agricultural utility. Birds are very fond of the 

 seeds. In some parts of Germany they are said to be used as sago, 

 and, when boiled in milk or wine, to form an extremely palatable food. 

 The specific name, sanguinalis, is said to have been given to it, not 

 from its colour, but on account of boys in Germany mischievously 

 thrusting the spikes up the noses of their companions, by which means 

 it makes them bleed. 



2. D. humifu'sa, Pers. (Fig. 210.) smooth Cock's-foot- or Finyer- 

 grass. Leaves and sheaths smooth ; glumes ovate, downy. 



Hooker, in English Botany, Supplement, t. 2613. British Flora, 

 vol. i. p. 59. Lindley, Synopsis, Supplement, p. 333. 



Root of numerous branched fibres. Plant tufted, and of a more or 

 less purplish hue. Stems numerous, bent at the base, and spreading, 

 becoming erect, slender, round, smooth, striated, from three to six 

 inches high, leafy. Leaves broadly linear, lanceolate, quite smooth to 

 the touch, except a roughness in the margins, with a rather prominent 

 midrib, and several slenderer lateral ones. Sheaths swollen, striated ; , 

 the upper long, and quite smooth ; the lower short, and with a few 

 occasional hairs on the margins, but otherwise quite free from hairs or 

 roughness. Ligula short, obtuse. Inflorescence similar to the last, 

 the spikes varying in number from two to four. Rachis with a broad, 

 striated wing, having pale, narrow, rough margins. Spikelets two, 

 sometimes three together, one on a longer footstalk than the others, 

 nearly smooth, angular. Glumes very unequal: the outer a small, 

 smooth, blunt, membranous scale, sometimes wanting ; the inner ovate, 

 equal in length to the florets, downy, with from three to five smooth 

 green ribs. The imperfect floret of one valve, similar to the larger 

 valve of the glumes ; the perfect one of two dark purple, shining, con- 

 cave valves, beautifully marked with numerous close dotted lines, the 

 margins pale and membranous, rolling inwards, at length forming a 

 hardened investment for the fruit. Anthers small, purple. Style 



