FOXTAIL BENT-GBASS. 315 



There are an Alpine Foxtail (A. alpinus), with very small 

 spikes, and a Bulbous Foxtail (A. bulbosus), inhabiting salt 

 marshes ; but we have no specimens of them. 



There is a little Grass called the Early Knappia, which fre- 

 quents seashores ; it has two glumes and two unequal hairy 

 palea?. It flowers in March and April, and only attains the 

 height of three inches. 



The Beard-grasses also are maritime plants. The annual 

 species has awns thrice the length of the glumes ; it grows 

 among sand. The perennial species has shorter awns, scarcely 

 rising higher than the glumes ; it favours salt marshes. Both 

 have theirflorets arranged in close panicles, and grow about a 

 foot high. They bloom in August, The annual Beard-grass 

 was sent to me from the coast of Norfolk ; the perennial Fanny 

 has from Clevedon (Polypogon littoralis). 



The British Millet-grasses are unimportant plants, though the 

 extreme elegance of the Spreading Millet gives it an indis- 

 putable claim to beauty (Milium effusum, Plate XVIII.). In 

 this family the florets have two close glumes enclosing the two 

 paleee, which harden and form a coat for the seed. 



The Spreading Millet grows four or five feet high; it has 

 broad pale green leaves, and a large scattered panicle of tiny 

 green flowers. It grows abundantly in woods and shady places, 

 several stems rising from one root. The woods in Swaledale 

 are full of it. 



The Panick Millet (M. lendigerum), has its flowers in a 

 dense spiked panicle, and the palese are awned. It grows in 

 inundated fields, and is rare. 



The, Bent-grass family is characterised by two unequal 

 glumes enclosing a single floret ; the palese are transparent, 

 the larger having sometimes an awn at its base. These are 

 elegant Grasses with fine foliage and light panicles of flowers. 



The Silky Bent-grass (Agrostis spica-venti), has its panicle 

 waving to one side ; it grows in sandy fields. 



The Brown Bent-grass (A. canina), is common on roadsides, 



