51 THE GRASS FAMILY. [Alopccuru*. 



rather smaller than in A. pratensis ; the awns either included within the 

 outer glumes or scarcely projecting beyond them. 



A high northern plant, extending from east Arctic Europe across 

 Arctic Asia and America, and reappearing in South Chili. In Britain, 

 it occurs in the higher mountains of Scotland, although unknown in 

 Scandinavia. Fl. summer. 



X MIBOEA. MIBORA. 



A single species, differing from Agrostis chiefly in the inflorescence, 

 which is a simple spike nearer that of the Hoidelnecs, although the 

 spikelets are not closely sessile enough to remove it, to that tribe. 



1. M. verna, Adans. (fig. 1179). Mibora. A little, tufted annual, 

 seldom 3 inches high. Leaves short and narrow, with very thin 

 sheaths. Spikelet small, purplish, almost sessile in a simple slender 

 spike about half an inch long. Outer glumes nearly equal, obtuse, 

 about a line long. Flowering glume shorter, very thin and scarious, 

 hairy outside, jagged at the top, but not awned. Palea small or some- 

 times none. Knappia agrostidca, Sm. Chamagrostis minima, Bork. 



In sandy pastures, and waste places, in western Europe, not extend- 

 ing in central Europe much to the eastward of the Khine, although in 

 the south it reaches as far as Greece. Rare in Britain, and apparently 

 confined to the coasts of Anglesea and the Channel Islands. Fl. spring. 



XI. LAGURUS. HARE'S-TAIL 



A single species, with the characters nearly of Calamagrostis, except 

 the inflorescence, which is condensed into an ovoid, softly hairy head 

 or spike as in Alopccurus. 



1. L. ovatus, Linn. (fig. 1180). ffare's-taU. An erect annual, from 

 a few inches to above a toot high ; the leaves hoary with a soft down, 

 their sheaths rather swollen. Spikelets 1 -flowered, very numerous, and 

 closely crowded into an ovoid or oblong, softly hairy head, ^ to 1 inch 

 long. Outer glumes subulate or slightly dilated at the base, about 4 

 lines long, feathered with long soft hairs. Flowering glume much 

 shorter, and thin, cleft into 2 awn-like points about the length of the 

 outer glumes, and bearing on its back a long, hair-like, bent awn, 

 usually at least twice the length of the spikelet. 



In maritime sands, and waste places, common all round the Medi- 

 terranean, and extending up the west coast of Europe to Guernsey ; 

 also found, but not wild, in Suffolk. Fl. early summer. 



XII. POLYPOGON. BEARDGRASS. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, densely crowded in a spike-like or slightly 

 branched panicle, the pedicel articulate below the glumes. Outer 

 glumes ending in a fine, straight awn. Flowering glume thinner and 

 smaller, with a fine twisted and bent or minute and straight awn, in a 

 terminal notch, or on the back. 



