GRASSES OF THE WOODS 



605 



flecking of the 

 flush ot Scarlet 



Trumpet variety, and a 

 El\'e Cups on the 



rotting 

 twigs. 



The blades of the Millet Grass are broad, 

 flat, and thin, cur\dng in graceful pro- 

 fusion below the flowernig 

 stems. In the gaps be- 

 tween the young hazel 

 and ash, where due shelter 

 is given all round it. the 

 grass hves in favoured 

 conditions ; giving shelter 

 in its turn to the \\'hite 

 Woodruft". Yellow Pim- 

 pernel and Purple Ground 

 Ivy. 



Another of our fine 

 grasses is the Wood Small 

 Reed {Calamagrostis epi- 

 geios). The term " Small 

 Reed" seems a httle in- 

 appropriate when design- 

 ating a species that 

 attains five feet in height. 

 It is a stout, erect grass 

 with a crowded panicle 

 of many purple spikelets 

 shortly a\\'ned, sometimes 

 measuring as much as a 

 foot long. 

 more open 



woods where it is free to 

 air and light, yet has the 

 sheltering ring of growth 

 round it. We cannot, 

 however, claim that it is 

 a commonh' found species, 

 for it is more local in habit 

 than others. When not 

 interfered with it makes 

 strong root -hold, flowering 

 through June to August. 



Agropyriim caninum, or Bearded Couch. 

 is perhaps more often found on the 

 outskirts of the woods, just within the 

 ring of shelter or bordering the wood 

 tracks. This is a fibrous-rooted species 

 with three-foot stems and bright green 

 spikelets possessing two to five flowers, 

 the flowering glumes having long awns. 

 The strong, broad blades, projected from 

 the leaf-sheaths, resi-mble tliose of wheat, 

 and the name Agropyriim is derived from 

 two Greek terms meaning respectively a 



It hkes the 

 spaces in our 



WOOD 



POA, OR 

 GRASS 



All these strong-growing perennial 

 grasses make covert for a most varied 

 assortm.ent of insects and their larvae, 

 and I have watched hedgehogs on the 

 warpath most industriously quartering 

 every foot of the minia- 

 ture jungle. 



In contrast to the solid 

 growing varieties is that 

 line trailing species that 

 almost suggests spray in 

 its panicles, the Wood 

 Poa, or Meadow Grass 

 (Poa nemoralis). Rather 

 a feeble grass, it props 

 upon the surrounding 

 growth, or soon trails on 

 the bare ground. Although 

 attaining three feet of 

 height, it is a slender 

 scale of growth, the leaves 

 being very narrow, and 

 the loose panicle com- 

 posed of very small spike- 

 lets. They are green or 

 purplish in colour, and 

 generally three-flowered, 

 extended upon branchlets 

 that have a waved line 

 of formation. 



The plant is slightly 

 inclined to creep, is peren- 

 nial, and quite a com- 

 monly found species in 

 our woods and copses. 

 In autumn the dr\' glumes 

 have rather a greyish tint 

 than tawny, which sug- 

 gests spray or mist drifting 

 above the green under- 

 growth. The form of the 

 panicle maj^ remain per- 

 fectly expanded, but the glumes, empty 

 of the seed, contract closely together. 



Quite distinct m type, the Slender False 

 Brome {Brachypodiinn sylvaticinn) sends up 

 its erect, solitary flowering stems of one foot 

 or even three feet in height amongst masses 

 of hairy blades. The number of spikek-ts 

 is usually seven or eight, carried on a 

 slender curving stem that is indented 

 for their reception, since they stand loosely 

 away from it. We are quite familiar 

 with the broad, often yellowish green 



MEADOW 



field, and wheat. The plant is a perennial blades springing among the shrub-p-owth. 

 and flf)wers through June and July. or on the outskirts of the woods, although 



77 



