76 ALOPECURUS. 



[class III. OKI)X& If 



Mr, H. C. Watson, Dr. Graham." Loch Whorol, Clove — Dr. Hooker, 

 Mr. J. D. Hooker ; to whose kindness we are indebted for beautiful 

 specimens of this and other rare plants. 

 Perennial; flowering in July and August. 



This species is readily distinguished from all other of the genera, by 

 the short ovate panicle, the short upper leaf with its inflated sheath, the 

 abrupt glumes, and the short rough awn. 



3, A. agres'tis, Linn. (Fig. 94.) slender Foxtail-grass. Stem erect, 

 scabrous above, panicle spiked, slender, cylindrical, tapering, 

 glumes nearly smooth, united from the base to about the middle. 



English Botany, t. 848. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 81. — Lindley, Sy- 

 nopsis, p. 299. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 33. — Sinclair, Hort. 

 Gram. Woburn. p. 283. 



Roots numerous, fibrous, sending up numerous Jiowering stems, 

 which are bent at the base, becoming erect, rough in the upper part, 

 leafy at the base, but more distant above, ^rom one to two feet high, 

 finely striated. Leaves pale, linear, rough on the under side, and edges 

 with fine sharp teeth pointing towards the end. Sheaths striated, upper 

 ones slightly inflated. Ligula somewhat downy, striated, obtuse, 

 mostly jagged or torn at the end. Inflorescence spiked, long, slender, 

 cylindrical, pointed, frequently purplish. Glumes lanceolate acute, 

 united by their edges nearly half the length of the valves, smooth, 

 three-ribbed, which are green or purplish towards the apex, slightly 

 keeled, which is more or less rough. Glumella quite smooth, three- 

 ribbed, with the awn arising from near the base about as long again. 

 Styles short, united. Stigmas feathery. Seed ovate. 



Habitat. — Fields and waysides in a poor soil, common. 



Annual ; flowering from June to October. 



This is a grass of very inferior quality, and of no value for agricultural 

 purposes, as it is said to be refused by almost all cattle. It prefers a 

 poor exhausted soil, and in some places is a very troublesome weed, 

 difficult to be extirpated, producing flowering stems and an abundance 

 of seed during nearly the whole summer. The seed is of a large size, 

 and aff'ords food for small birds, pheasants, and partridges ; and may 

 be sown with advantage on a poor soil in game preserves and shady 

 situations, forming a cover for them during the whole summer, as well 

 as furnishing them with a constant and plentiful su])p]y of food. The 

 appearance of this grass upon cultivated land is a natural witness of its 

 poor and ill-conditioned state : it delights to grow, and thrives best, on 

 those lands exhausted by a repealed rotation of impoverishing crops ; 

 and a remarkable circumstance in the habit of this grass is, that when 

 the land is again brought into a good condition, it disappears ; but 

 otherwise it is most difficult to be removed, and consequently a most 

 troublesome weed. 



