34 



TIMOTHY. 



signifying cat's tail, the name by which it is still most 

 frequently known in Great Britain. 



TIMOTHY, HERD'S GRASS (Phleum 

 pratense). Fig. 26. Spikes cylin- 

 drical or elongated; glumes hairy 

 on the back, tipped with a bristle 

 less than half their length; leaves 

 long, flat, rough, with long sheaths; 

 root perennial, fibrous on moist 

 soils, on dry ones often bulbous. 

 Grows best on damp, peaty soils. 

 Flower Fig. 27. The name of Tim- 

 othy, by which it is more generally 

 known over the country, was ob- 

 tained from Timothy Hanson, who 

 is said to have cultivated it exten- 

 sively, and to have taken the seed 

 from New York to Carolina. Its 

 culture was, according to some 

 accounts, introduced into Eng- 

 land, from Virginia, by Peter 

 Wynche, about the years 1760 or 

 1761. 



It is frequently called Herd's 

 grass in New England and New 

 York, and this was the original 

 name under which it was culti- 

 vated; it was derived 

 from a man of that name, 

 who, according to Jared 

 Eliot, found it growing 

 wild in a swamp in Pis- 

 cataqua, N. H., more 

 Fig. 26. Timothy. Kg. 27. than a century and a 



