SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 337 



straight smooth awns, which are 3-4 times as long as the 

 spikelets. Fields, near the sea, rare. Fl. July, August. 



(311) Agrostis. BENT-GRASS. 



A. alba : stem procumbent at the base, 1-2 feet high ; 

 leaves flat ; panicle slender, spreading when in flower, con- 

 tracted after flowering ; outer pales thin, awnless or rarely 

 with a minute awn from its base. Pastures and waste places. 

 Fl. July. 



A. vulgaris : smaller and dwarfer than the last ; panicle 

 spreading both before and after flowering. Pastures and 

 waste places. Fl. July. 



A. canina : similar to the foregoing, but the panicle less 

 spreading, and the outer pales bear on their back below the 

 middle a fine awn, which slightly protrudes beyond the glumes. 

 Moist heaths. FL July. 



(312) Apera. WIND-GRASS. 



A. Spica-venti : annual ; stems 12 feet high, slender, 

 elegant ; leaves narrow ; panicle long, spreading, with slender, 

 hair-like branches, and little shining spikelets, the outer pales 

 with a hair-like awn, three or four times their own length. 

 Fields and sandy pastures. Fl. June, July. 



A. interrupta has the spikelets shorter and more crowded, 

 in a narrow panicle, with nearly erect branches. Sandy fields. 



(313) Ammophila. SEA-REED, or MARRAM. 



A. arenaria : stems stiff, erect, 2-3 feet high ; leaves narrow, 

 erect, glaucous, rolled inwards on their edges; panicle con- 

 tracted into a close, narrow-cylindrical, tapering spike, 5-6 

 inches long. Maritime sands. Fl. July. 



