AIRA CARYOPHYLLEA. 71 



AIRA CARYOPHYLLEA. 



LINNAEUS. HOOKER AND ARNOTT. J. E. SMITH. PARNELL. BABINGTON. 



REICHENBACH. GREVILLE. LINDLEY. 

 WILLDENOW. KNAPP. CURTIS. STILLINGFLEET. GREAVES. OEDER. 



PLATE XXI. B. 



Avena caryophyllea, KOCH. 



The Silver Hair- Grass. 

 Aira To destroy. Caryophyllea ? 



A NOTHER useless agricultural grass, growing in dry gravelly 

 -LA. situations, and tolerably abundant in England, Scotland, and 

 Ireland. 



It is a very handsome species. 



Found in Germany, France, and Italy. 



Stem upright, circular, smooth, and striated, bearing three or four 

 short, narrow, rough leaves, with striated rough sheaths, upper leaf 

 much longer than its sheath, and having a prominent acute ligule at 

 the apex. Joints smooth. Inflorescence compound panicied, silvery 

 grey. Panicle upright, triple-forked, spreading, tinged with purple. 

 Rachis smooth. Spikelets small, with rounded bases and slightly 

 swollen, consisting of two awned florets, not protruding beyond the 

 apex of the glumes. Calyx of two equal-sized membranous glumes, 

 destitute of lateral ribs. Florets of two equal-sized paleao, exterior 

 one of lowest floret bifid, base hairy, furnished with a slender awn 

 rising from slightly beneath the centre, and extending half its length 

 beyond the apex of the palea. Inner one thin and membranous. 

 Root annual and fibrous. Length from six to twelve inches. 



Flowers in the third week of June, and ripens its seed at the end 

 of July. 



