474 ► GRAMINEJE. [ALOPECUiurs. 



from Aberdeenshire, has a laxer panicle, more acute purplish empty glumes, 

 with an awn \-\ of their length. 



** Empty glumes distinct or connate towards the base. 



3. A. praten'sis, L. ; stem erect, panicle slender cylindric obtuse, 

 keel of hairy acute empty glumes villously ciliate, awn twice as long as 

 the fl. glume. 



Meadows and pastures, N. to Shetland ; ascends to 2,000 ft. in N. England ; 

 Ireland ; Channel Islands ; fl. May-June. — Perennial, stoloniferous. Stems 

 1-3 ft., erect or lowest interuode inclined, smooth. Leaves scaberulous, 

 flat; sheath smooth, upper inflated, longer than its leaf; ligule large, 

 truncate. Panicle l§-2§ in., dense, soft, pale green ; branches very short, 

 with 3-6 spikelets. Empty glumes £ in., ovate-lanceolate, acute ; fl. glume 

 subacute, glabrous, ciiiate, margins connate %—\ of its length. — Distrib. 

 Europe, N. Africa, N. and W. Asia, N.W. India; introd. in America.— An 

 excellent fodder. 



4. A. genicula'tus, L. ; stem decumbent below, panicle cylindric, 

 keel of hairy empty glumes ciliate. A. pains' iris, Syme. 



"Wet meadows and ditches, ascendiug to nearly 2,000 ft. in the N. of England ; 

 fl. May-Aug. — Perennial, rarely aunual, glabrous. Stems 8-18 in ., procum- 

 bent and rooting below. Leaves flat, scaberulous above ami on the edges. 

 Panicle 1-lh in., slender, dense-fid. ; branches with 1 spikelet. Empty 

 glumes hairy and silky as in A. praten'sis, but smaller, ^ in.; anthers 

 purplish, linear.— Distrib. Europe, N. Africa, N. and W. Asia, Iudia; 

 in trod, in N. America. 



A. genicuxa'tus proper ; not glaucous, sheaths cylindric, panicles cylindric, 

 empty glumes connate at the base, fl. glume with a subbasxl awn not 

 twice its length. Common, N. to Shetland; Ireland; Channel Islands.— 

 A. pro'nus, Mitt., is a prostrate form. 



Sub-sp. A. fui/vus, Sm. ; glaucous, sheaths rather inflated, panicle longer 

 paler, empty glumes smaller r ' Y in. connate below obtuse villously ciliate, 

 awn inserted near the middle of and a little longer than the fl. glume, 

 anthers small yellow. — N. Wales, Chester and Norfolk to Devon and 

 Sussex. 



Sub-sp. A. Bur/BO'sus, Gouan ; taller, more erect, not glaucous, lowest inter- 

 nodes tuberous, upper sheath inflated, panicle slender subacute, empty 

 glumes acute, free to the bise, keel shortly ciliate, flowering glume longer 

 than the palea awn subbasal twice its length. — Salt marshes, N. "Wales, 

 York and Chester, to Kent and Cornwall. 



9. MII/IUM, L. Millet-Grass. 



Spikelets minute, in an effuse panicle, 1-fld. ; rachilla produced. Empty 

 glumes 2, equalling the flowering, broad, subequal, obtuse, awnless, 3- 

 nerved. Fl. glume rigid, ovate, tumid, obseurely 3 -nerved, awnless. Palea 

 2-nerved. Scales 2, fleshy, acute, toothed on one side. Ovary glabrous ; 

 styles short, stigmas feathery. Fruit terete, included in the hardened 

 glumes and palea. — Distrib. Temp, and trop. ; species 5 or 6. — Ktvm. 

 Latin for Millet, misapplied. 



