67 



AIRA CJESPITOSA. 



PAENELL. SMITH. HOOKEE. ABXOTT. GEEVILLE. KNAPP. 

 WlLLDENOW. SCHBADEB. LEEBS. HOST. EHBHABT. 

 OEDEB. HUDSON. WITHEBING. HULL. SIBTHOBP. ABBOT. RELHAN. 



PLATE XX. 



DescTiampsla c&spitosa, LINDLEY. 



Gramen segetale, GEBABDE. 







Aira To destroy. Ccespitosa Tufted. 



The Tufted Hair Grass. 



AIBA. Linneeus. The Hair Grass is named from the Greek, and signifies 

 to destroy, but why it received this unwelcome name is apparently uncertain. 

 There are six British species. Having a spreading panicle, of which the 

 spikelets are laterally compressed. There are two florets present in each 

 spikelet, with a third imperfect rudiment between them; the outer palea 

 of each floret is rounded at the back and furnished with an awn. 



A VEKY handsome Grass, the flowers of which are well 

 adapted for decoration, being very graceful. It is a common 

 species in England, Scotland, and Ireland, of no agricultural 

 merit, being coarse and rough, with but little nutritive proper- 

 ties. It will flourish in almost any situation, but prefers damp 

 fields, where it grows into large tufts, and is known to agri- 

 culturists as hassacks, a Grass difficult to destroy. 



It is a native of Norway, Sweden, Lapland, France, Italy, 

 Germany, North America, and the United States. Nowhere 

 does it flourish so luxuriantly as on the banks of a brook. 



The plant forms a large coarse tuft, and, as it is not eaten 

 by cattle except when nothing else can be procured, a field 

 in which it abounds has a singularly unsightly, and to farmers 

 unwelcome appearance. 



The root is perennial and fibrous. Stem upright, circular, and 



