174 BRIZ A . FESTUC A . 



36. BRIZ A. Linn. QUAKING GRASS. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Spikelets many-flowered, ovate or heart-shaped, 

 flattish tumid, the flowers closely imbricated ; glumes 

 roundish, unequal (pnrple) ; lower palet roundish 

 and entire, flattened parallel with the glumes, ventri- 

 cose on the back, heart shaped at the base, papery 

 membranaceous and becoming dry, scarious mar- 

 gined, obscurely many-nerved, the upper palet much 

 smaller, ovate, flat ; stamens 3 ; stigmas branched 

 plumose ; grain flattened, parallel with the palets, 

 adhering to the upper one ; leaves flat ; panicle 

 loose, diffuse, with the large and showy spikelets 

 often drooping on delicate pedicels. 



Whence the name, an ancient Greek appellation 

 for some kind of grain, from brizo, to slumber, or 

 IritTio, to bend downwards. 



1. B. Media (quaking grass). See page 61. 

 There are orher species of this grass grown as orna- 

 mental grasses. 



37. FESTUCA Linn. FESCUE GRASS, 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Spikelets 3-many-flowered, panicled or racemose, 

 the flowers not webby at the base ; glumes unequal 

 mostly keeled ; palets chartaceous or almost coria- 

 ceous, roundish (not keeled) on the back, more or 

 less 3 to 5 nerved, acute, pointed, or often bristle- 



