40 GASTRIDIUM LENDIGERUM. 



Root annual and fibrous, having slender branching fibres. 

 Stem upright, circular, polished; carrying four or five flat, acute, 

 rough leaves, with usually smooth sheaths, the upper one being 

 longer than its leaf. Joints mostly three in number. Ligule 

 conspicuous, pointed, and broad. Inflorescence compound pani- 

 cled, compact; pale green in colour; branches rough. Rachis 

 circular and smooth. Spikelets upright, numerous, composed 

 of two unequal-sized acute glumes, that are tumid at the base, 

 deeply dentate at the upper portion, and with green keels, and 

 one floret, two-thirds less in length than the glumes, and 

 consisting of two paleae, the exterior one being five-ribbed, with 

 the summit jagged; inner paleae somewhat shorter, with smooth 

 lateral ribs. Awn rough, yet slender, twice the length of the 

 paleae. Styles brief, distant, and two in number. Stigmas 

 feathery. Filaments three, slender. Anthers notched at either 

 extremity. Scales acute. 



Gastridium lendigerum does not flower till August, nor ripen 

 its seeds before the end of September. 



The specimen illustrated was gathered on St. Vincent Rocks, 

 Bristol, by Mr. Joseph Sidebotham, of Manchester. 



