AGR08TI8 8ETAGEA. 57 



AGROSTIS SETACEA. 



CURTIS. HOOKER AND ARNOTT. SMITH. PARNELL. KNAPP. 

 BABINGTON. LINDLEY. WITHERING. 



PLATE XVII. A. 



* 



Agrostis alpina, WITHERING. HULL. 



" canina, var. HUDSON. 



" mutabilis, SIBTHORP. 



The Bristle- leaved Bent Grass. 

 Agrostis A field. Seiacea Bristle-like. 



AN intei'esting very local species, confined to the dry downs of the 

 south-west of England; being most abundant in Hampshire, 

 Devonshire, and Cornwall, on sandy heaths, where it flourishes and 

 finds food for flocks of sheep. 



It is a native of France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Por- 

 tugal, Turkey, and Greece. 



Root perennial, tufted, and fibrous. Stem circular, rough, and 

 striated; carrying four or five very narrow rough leaves, with striated 

 sheaths, the uppermost considerably longer than its leaf. Joints three. 

 Leaves from the root long, setaceous, and crowded. Inflorescence 

 compound panicled, upright and compact until in flower, then spreading. 

 Spikelets small, acute, and numerous, consisting of two almost equal- 

 sized glumes, and one floret shorter than the glumes. The floret 

 consisting of two unequal-sized paleae, the exterior one four-ribbed, 

 base hirsute, summit jagged, having an awn as long again as the palea, 

 arising from slightly above the base, and being rough and slender. 

 Inner palea diminutive. Styles two. Stigmas feathery. Filaments 

 three. Anthers cloven at either extremity. Length from eight to 

 fifteen inches. 



Flowers in July, and ripens its seed at the beginning of September. 



