GRAMINE/E 233 



A. pallida DC., A. elegans Thore., A. canina L., A. oHvetorum Q. G., 

 A. vulgaris With., and the var. nigra With., which the present writer found 

 near Carqueiranne in April, 1913, apparently new to France. See " Journal of 

 Botany" (1913), p. 196. 



It is more robust, darker in colour, panicle more scabrid and more rigid, and 

 the spikelets are larger. 



A. verticillata Vill., and A. alba L. in many forms. 



A. Spica-venti L. = Apera Spica-venti Beauv. rarely occurs in crops 

 on sandy ground. It is a tall, slender, and very elegant annual grass. 



SPOROBOLUS R. Br. 



A genus hardly distinguishable form Agrostis, but with panicle usually less 

 branched and more contracted. 



S. pungens Kunth. A creeping grass, with long scaly rhizomes. Stems 

 very leafy, branched from the base. Leaves short, stiff, spinous. Panicle short, 

 often purplish. Lower glumes much shorter than upper. 



Maritime sands. July-October. Perhaps this plant approaches the actual 

 sea nearer than any other, and binds the sands with its creeping rhizomes. 



GASTRID1UM Beauv. NIT-GRASS. 



Panicle close, spike-like. Glumes membranous, acute, awnless, ventricose at 

 base, exceeding the flower. Fertile glume minute, truncate or toothed at end. 

 Spikelets small, in a contracted panicle, i-flowered. 



Q. lendigerum Gaud, occurs in crops and dry fields and G. scabrum Presl. 

 more rarely in fields. 



POLYPOQON Desf. BEARD-GRASS. 



Panicle close, spike-like. Glumes scarious, each with a long bristle from just 

 below the notched tip. Fertile glume usually awned from below the tip. 

 Spikelets in a contracted or spike-like panicle, i-flowered. 



P. maritimus Willd. and P. monspeliensis Desf. are not uncommon in 

 damp, sandy places near the coast ; and P. subspathaceus Req. is very rare 

 near Hyeres and on the Isle of Porquerolles. 



LAGURUS L. HAKE'S-TAIL. 



Panicle dense, ovoid. Glumes scarious, ending in a long fringed bristle. 

 Flower i, with a pedicel-like rudiment. Fertile glume ending in 2 short bristles 

 and with a dorsal bent, twisted awn. 



L. ovatus L. An erect slender annual, 4-18 in. high. Leaves covered with 

 soft down, and with swollen sheaths. Spikelets i-flowered, very numerous and 

 crowded in an ovoid or oblong soft hairy head about an inch long. Outer 

 glumes subulate or slightly dilated at base , and with long soft hairs ; fertile 

 glume much shorter, thin and cleft into 2 awn-like points. 



Sandy places near the sea, common. May-June. 



STIPA L. FEATHER-GRASS. 



Spikelets stalked, i-flowered, in a panicle. Fertile glume coriaceous, con- 

 volute, 5-nerved, hairy below, with a very long, bent awn usually twisted below. 



S. pennata L. Awn twisted below, feathery above the upper knee, often a 

 foot long. Glumes subulate with a long scarious point Anthers hairless. 

 Plant 1^-2$ ft. high. 



Dry hills and stony slopes inland, but not ascending so high as in the 

 central European Alps. Local, June-Aug. 



S. juncea L. Awn hairy throughout, about 3 in. long. Upper part straight, 

 much longer than the twisted portion. Glumes subulate. Anthers bearded. 



