ALOPECURUS BULBOSUS. 13 



ALOPECURUS BULBOSUS. 



LINNAEUS. WILLDENOW. HOOKER AND ARNOTT. SMITH. KNAPP. 

 BABINGTON. LINDLEY. PARNELL. KUNTH. 



PLATE V. A. 



J^he Bulbous fox-tail Grass. 

 Alopecurus Fox-tail. Bulbosus Bulbous. 



A BARE British Grass, growing in wet salt marshes, and of no 

 JLJL use for agricultural purposes. 



In England found in the counties of Somerset, Sussex, Gloucester, 

 Suffolk, and Norfolk, most abundant near Yarmouth and Weymouth. 

 In Wales in Cardiff Marshes. Not in Scotland or Ireland. 



Abroad it is a native of France, Germany, Spain, Turkey, Greece, 

 Italy, Portugal, and the Mediterranean Islands. 



Panicle cylindrical and acuminate. Spikelets numerous, crowded 

 together, consisting of two glumes and one floret. Glumes pointed, 

 equal in length; keels and lateral ribs hairy, Separated to the base. 

 Floret slightly shorter than the glumes, consisting of one palea, trun- 

 cated, on either side with two green ribs. Stigmas long and feathery. 

 Anthers protruding. Styles combined. Stems rising, but bent at the 

 joints, smooth and striated, having three or four leaves with striated 

 smooth sheaths. Joints distant from each other, four in number. 

 Leaves somewhat narrow, smooth underneath, upper surface rough. 

 Inflorescence from an inch to an inch and a half in length. Length 

 from four to fifteen inches. Boot tuberous and perennial. 



Flowers in July, and ripens its seeds at the end of August. 



The present species takes its name from its bulbous root. 



It differs from A. agrestis in having a smooth stem and sheath, in 

 the truncate summit of the floret, and in the awn extending half its 

 length beyond the palea. In A. agrestis the stem and sheaths are 

 rough, floret conical at apex, awn longer. 



