896 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK x 



Another word of caution is needed as to the occasionally incorrect 

 use of the term " grass," it having been familiarly applied to a number 

 of plants which are not members of the natural order G raininess. 

 Thus, cotton grass is, as is subsequently mentioned, really a sedge ; 

 so is carnation grass (Carex panicea, L.) Knot-grass (Polygonum 

 aviculare, L.) is a troublesome weed on arable land, and a near relation 

 of the docks and sorrels. Goose-grass is the hariff or cleavers (Galium 

 Aparine, L.) growing in hedgerows. Rib-grass is the plantain (Plan- 

 tago lanceolata, L.). Scorpion-grass (Myosotis arvensis, Hoftm.) is 

 one of the blue-flowered forget-me-nots. Arrow-grass (Triglochin 

 palustre, L.) belongs to the water plantain family. Scurvy-grass 

 (Cochlearia officinalis, L.) is allied to the horse-radish, and is a cruci- 

 ferous plant, like the whitlow- grasses (Draba and Erophila). The 

 grass of Parnassus (Parnassia palustris, L.) is a member of the 

 beautiful saxifrage family. Cow-grass is a clover the much-valued 

 Trifolium pratense perenne. 



The only commonly occurring plants which are liable to be mistaken 

 for grasses (nat. ord. Graminese) are rushes (nat. ord. JunceaB) and 

 sedges (nat. ord. Cyperacese). The rushes, however, usually have dark 

 green rounded stems, tapering to a point, and enclosing a continuous 

 or interrupted pith. The leaves, if noticeable, are either flat or like 

 the stem. The brownish flowers of rushes contain six stamens, sur- 

 rounded by six scaly leaves. They are, therefore, quite different from 

 those of grasses, and have the structure rather of a very diminutive 

 tulip flower. Moreover, the flowers are never aggregated together in 

 spikelets. The true rushes (Juncus) grow naturally on poor wet lands. 

 The wood-rushes (Luzula) occur upon heaths, meadows, pastures, and in 

 shady places. Their foliage is more grass-like than that of the rushes, 

 but their leaves always have a cottony appearance, due to the presence 

 of long wavy white hairs. 



The sedges (Carex) are at once distinguished from grasses by their 

 solid triangular stems, by their entire leaf-sheaths, and by the absence 

 of ligules. In grasses the stems are usually round and hollow, and 

 their leaf-sheaths are split in front. The cotton-grass or cotton-sedge 

 (Eriophorum), growing on moors and bogs, develops cottony heads, 

 which look in the distance like tufts of white wool. 



We proceed to offer some observations on the cultivated grasses, 

 taking them, as a matter of convenience, in the following order : 

 Cocksfoot, Dogstail, Fescues, Fiorin, Foxtail, Meadow Grasses, Oat 

 Grasses, Bye Grasses, Sweet Grasses, Sweet Vernal, and Timothy. 

 Incidental references are made, in this section, to such weed grasses as 

 are generically allied to any of the foregoing. 



COCKSFOOT (Dactylis glomerata, L.). No grass is more easily 

 recognised than rough cocksfoot (fig. 380). Its spikelets are crowded 

 together into thick clusters hence the specific name, " glomerata " 

 and they are all turned to one side. It is a large, coarse-growing, and 

 often unsightly plant, rough or harsh to the touch. The leaves are 



