62 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OP PLANTS. 



(Stipa pennata), is the most important amongst them, and 

 very beautiful to look at. " Directly after flowering it ex- 

 pands its long, delicately-feathered awns (not unlike the 

 tail of a bird of paradise) from the spike which rises high 

 above the tuft of narrow, dry leaves/' The woody root- 

 stem too is a peculiar feature in this grass, which, from the 

 height to which it stands out of the ground, is a serious 

 annoyance to the labourer in mowing. 



The awn, in the Stipa, is provided with a curious appa- 

 ratus, not found in any other grass but the Oat : the part 

 nearest the seed is twisted like a corkscrew, and looks and 

 feels as hard as a delicately twined wire; when the seed 

 falls, this screw in all probability first worms its way into 

 the ground, thus boring a hole for the entrance of the seed 

 to which it is attached. 



The Stipa pennata was formerly said to grow in England, 

 on the Westmoreland mountains, near Kendal; but as it 

 cannot now be found, there is reason to fear that this was a 

 mistake, or else that it has become extinct. 



Other tracts of land on these steppes possess a different 

 character, being overgrown by rough, branching plants, with 

 woody stems, which go by the general name of Burian 

 amongst the Tartars. Being quite unfit for pasture, they. 



