WEED GRASSES. 37 



to a straggling and climbing road-side weed. Bromus 

 hordaceus has a velvety leaf similar to that of Fog but 

 has no red and white veins at the base of the sheath. As 

 it is an annual the flower heads can usually be found either 

 exposed or hidden in the sheath. The flowers have their 

 husks or glumes fringed with white, and are provided with 

 awns that are shorter than the flowers. The grass is almost 

 never eaten by stock, and is universall r i egarded as a 

 worthless weed. Its seeds are a common impurity of 

 Italian Rye Grass, as the awns on both grasses are of 

 about equal length, but its seed is easily distinguished 

 from that of the Rye Grass by its greater breadth and 

 boat-like shape. 



(4) Hair Grass (Festuca bromoides). - - This is again a 

 Colonial name and is applied to a different grass from that 

 bearing the same name in England. Colonial Hair Grass is 

 a fescue with very fine leaves like those of Sheep's or Chewings 

 Fescue. The flower heads stand about a foot high in ordin- 

 ary circumstances and have narrow seeds with long awns. 

 The excessively fine leaves give almost no feed so that the 

 grass is quite worthless. It is commonest on medium to light 

 soil, and is very widely distributed. When the land is not 

 well packed in the ploughing Hair Grass may actually beat 

 the cereal crops, and will then grow three or more feet high. 

 Its seed, too, is not uncommon as an impurity in that of 

 Italian Rye, and is to be distinguished by being much 

 narrower and longer. 



(5) English Hair Grass (Aira caryophyllea). This is 

 the grass called Hair Grass in England. Like Colonial Hair 

 Grass it has leaves so fine as to be almost unnoticeable. 

 The flower stalks are only three or four inches high and 

 the heads are pinkish and feathery. The grass usually 

 grows in a mass in old pasture on light land. It is quite 

 worthless. 



