BENT GRASSES. 



905 



which creep amongst the other herbage and develop rootlets wherever 

 an opportunity offers. Hence, under favourable circumstances, the 

 plant increases with considerable rapidity. Its panicle of innumerable 

 small spikelets is characterised by the well-defined intervals between 

 the points from which the clusters of branches arise. Fiorin thrives 

 in moist poor soils, both sandy and peaty. It can hardly be described 

 as a favourite food with cattle, but it is useful in that it affords a green 

 bite far into the autumn. It cannot be recommended as a hay field 

 grass. The " seed " of fiorin (fig. 394) is very liable to contain the 

 seeds of other species of Agrostis which are practically indistinguish- 

 able from it. 



The MAKSH BENT (Agrostis alba, L.) and the COMMON BENT 



Fig. 397. Floret 

 of Agrostis vul- 

 garis. 



Fig. 396. Common Bent. 



Agrostis viilgaris. 



(Agrostis vulgaris, L.) are two weed grasses, often included in the 

 common term, twitch, or squitch. They occur abundantly in poor 

 meadows, and as weeds of some descriptions of arable land. See figs. 

 395, 396, and 397. 



In the United States, Agrostis vulgaris is variously termed Fine- 

 top, Fine Bent, Tall Red-top, and Summer Dew Grass. Similarly, 

 Agrostis alba is known as English Bent, White Bent, Bonnet Grass, 

 White-top and Dew Grass. 



MEADOW FOXTAIL (Alopecurus pratensis, L.) is one of our early 

 grasses, and may often be found in ear by the middle of April. The 

 ear has much the appearance of a round tail ending in a point 

 (figs. 398 and 399), and if drawn from base to tip between finger and 

 thumb it feels soft and silky. By doubling the ear upon itself, at 

 about the middle of its length it will be seen that each spikelet has a 

 very short stalk, and that the spikelets are thickly crowded along the 



