PERENNIAL FORAGE GRASSES 67 



more than 18 inches in height, finer leaves, shorter and more 

 obtuse ligule, smaller panicle with fewer branches. 



In a letter, Mrs. Agnes Chase says: "Agrostis alba vulgaris can usually be 

 distinguished from A. alba by the habit of the plant, but they are so nearly 

 allied that the spikelets alone are not distinct. When making the drawings 

 for Professor Hitchcock's 'Agrostis' I examined a great amount of material 

 of these two kinds to find if possible some clear distinction in the spikelets 

 of the two, but was unable to find such distinction. The spikelets are the 

 same size, but alba usually has a palet two-thirds to three-fourths the length 

 of the flowering glume and var. vulgaris has a palet about one-half the length 

 of the flowering glume. Agrostis alba, however, so frequently has a shorter 

 palet that this character cannot be relied upon. But in examining a quan- 

 tity of seed, if I find only shorter palets, I think it safe to assume the seed 

 is that of Tar. vulgaris." 



Hitchcock says of Agrostis alba L. : "Extensively cultivated as a meadow 

 grass under the name of redtop, and a more stoloniferous form as lawn grass 

 under the name of creeping bent. . . . The stoloniferous form used for 

 lawns has been generally known as var. stolonifera, but it is not A. stolonifera 

 L. which is A. verticillata Vill. . . . The form evidently introduced through 

 a large part of the United States is the large plant which I have referred 

 to A. alba L. This has taller stems, wider leaf blades which may droop, larger, 

 more dense panicles, the branches often spikelet-bearing to the base, ligules 

 larger and the stolon-like rhizomes often long and stout." l 



"When seeding plow-lots for a crop or two of hay, we should feel cheated 

 if a seedsman were to sell us, inadvertently, the smaller, to mix with timothy, 

 instead of the larger variety of Agrostis. On the other hand, when tired of 

 plowing a field, and wishing to seed it so it will run from a meadow into a 

 permanent 'butter pasture,' perhaps, or a green home-lot, with a fine, close 

 sward at bottom, we take much pains to get seed of the smaller grass. Sod 

 of the larger one never tempted spade to lift it, but turf of fine Agrostis is 

 a beautiful possession." 2 



Mrs. Chase writes: "I have examined packages of seed sold as 'creeping 

 bent.' These are A. alba, probably var. vulgaris, but in all packages I found 

 some A. canina and one package was nearly half composed of that species." 



Redtop is botanically more closely related to timothy and 

 meadow fescue than to the Poas, the fescues, or orchard grass, 

 in that the spikelet is one-flowered and the florets are hyaline 

 instead of chartaceous. 



1 North American Species of Agrostis. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bu. PI. Ind. 

 Bui. No. 68, p. 26. 



2 James B. Olcott: Fine versus Coarse Agrostis; in Rpt. Conn. Bd. 1 gr. 

 and Exp. Sta., 1887, p. 177. 



