ALOPE GURUS ALPINU8. 



ALOPECURUS ALPINUS. 



SMITH. HOOKER AND ARNOTT. DON. KNAPP. PARNELL. LINDLEY. 



PLATE III. B. 

 Alopecurus ova t us, KNAPP. 



The Alpine Fox- tail Grass. 

 Alopecurus Fox-tail. Alpinus Alpine. 



A RARE northern Grass, growing in marshy situations on mountains 

 J_JL- at an elevation of three thousand eight hundred feet above the 

 sea. Sheep will feed upon the lower leaves, rejecting the stem of this 

 Grass. It does not appear to be found below the elevation of two 

 thousand five hundred feet. 



From the circumstance that Alopecurus alpinus will not grow except 

 on high mountains it is useless as an agricultural Grass. 



In Great Britain it is peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland, about 

 Loch-na-Gar, Clova Mountains, Canlochen, Glen Prosen, Ben Lawers, 

 and Loch Lee. Found also in Greenland, in Spitzbergen, and in the 

 north of British America. 



Panicle upright, not an inch long, oblong, soft and silky. Spikelets 

 upright, oval, placed all round the rachis, of one awned floret of the 

 same length as the calyx. Calyx consisting of two acute hairy glumes 

 of the same size, three-ribbed. Floret consisting of one palea, with 

 two ribs on either side, and sometimes furnished with a slender dorsal 

 awn. Filaments three and slender. Anthers protruding, and notched 

 at the extremities. Styles united and short. Stigmas two, lengthy 

 and feathery. Seeds ovate. Stem upright, smooth, circular, bent at 

 the base. Stem carrying four leaves, whose sheaths are smooth and 

 striated, the uppermost sheath extending beyond its leaf. Joints 

 smooth. Leaves flat and broad, the inner surface and margin rough. 







