HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 211 



these experiments is less than that obtained by Mr. Swayne, but 

 the difference is to be accounted for from the different soils 

 employed. The plant attains to a considerable height when con- 

 nected with bushes, and evidently prefers shady situations. But 

 the produce, as shewn above, on a middling soil, in an exposed 

 situation, is very considerable ; and it maintains its place when 

 once in possession of the soil. Horses and oxen are very fond of 

 it ; I have observed them eat it closer to the ground than they did 

 the surrounding herbage of cock's-foot, tall oat-like soft-grass, 

 ray-grass, and cow clover. Its produce is very inferior when 

 cultivated on a clayey soil, for which it appears unfit. The seeds 

 vegetate readily when sown about the end of April or in the be- 

 ginning of May. 



It comes into flower about the middle of May, and the seed 

 is ripe about the middle and end of June. 



LOLIUM perenne. Rye-grass, Perennial Darnel, Ray-grass, 

 Perennial Rye-grass. 



Specific character : Spike awnless ; calyx shorter than the spike- 

 let ; florets lanceolate. See Sm. Engl. Fl. i. p. 173. Fig. 1. 

 Spikelet. 2. Floret. 3. Germen and Stigmas. 4. Nectary. 



Obs. The varieties of this species are very numerous : as the 

 slender rye-grass (var. tenue), see our figure ; the compound, 

 or broad-spiked rye-grass (var. compositum) ; Pacey's ray- 

 grass (var. ramosum} ; Russell's grass ( Russellianum) ; see 

 our figure ; Whitworth's grass ( Whitworthiemis) ; Stickney's 

 grass ( Stickneiensis) ; panicled rye-grass (paniculatum) ; 

 double-flowered rye-grass (monstrosum) ; viviparous rye- 

 grass (viviparum) : and varieties of these, according to the 

 age of the plant and the soil it grows in. The first variety 

 (tenue) is common to dry pasture land that has been impo- 

 verished and worn out by injudicious cropping : it is distin- 

 guished from the other varieties of rye-grass by its perfectly 

 upright spike, which is slender, and the spikelets small and 

 distant from each other, consisting of 3-5 flowers ; the root- 

 leaves are very narrow and few in number; the culms are 

 almost naked or destitute of leaves. The second variety 

 (compositum) grows in a richer soil, or in soils that have been 

 long under grass, and is there for the most part confined 

 to beaten parts, as the cart-ways and sides of paths. It is 

 distinguished by its short and broad spike, crowded with 



