GIASS III. ORDiR II.] AGROSTIS. 95 



Root fibrous. Stems smooth, frequently long, decumbent and 

 spreading in the lower part, putting out roots and numerous stems 

 from, the joints. Leaves ^At, broader, rougher, and stouter than in the 

 last species. Sheaths striated, smooth, or roughish, particularly in the 

 upper parts. Ligula oblong, obtuse, mostly torn, ribbed, smooth, ov 

 minutely downy. By tins character all the varieties are essentially 

 distinguished from the above. Inflorescence, a loose branched panicle, 

 somewhat contracted from two to six inches long; the rachis smooth 

 ill the lower part, the branches rough and angular. Glumes nearly 

 equal, lanceolate smooth, except on the keel, shining, green or purplish. 

 Ghimelles unequal, pale, thin, membranous, the outer valve largest 

 lanceolate five nerved, which terminate in more or less distinct teeth, 

 the inner much smaller, two nerved, and bifid. Dr. Hooker, who has 

 bestowed much labour upon this grass, remarks that " in some there is 

 a short awn at the base of the outer valve of the corolla ((jlumella), this 

 constitutes the A. compressa, Willdenow, and sometimes the flowers are 

 viviparous, which is the A. si/lvatica, Linn. I believe all are now 

 agreed that A. stolonifera of authors is the same as A. alba. The 

 famous Fiorin grass of Dr. Richardson and the Irish agriculturists is 

 what I have called A. alba, as I ascertained by the aid of specimens 

 gathered in the company of Dr. Richardson himself. I know not of 

 any British awuless Agrostides, which may not be reduced either to 

 A. vulgaris or A. alba. The two species are indeed very closely allied." 



Habitat. — In dry pastures, road sides, and waste places, abundant. 



Perennial, flowering from June to August. 



The utility of this grass for the purposes of cultivation, is the early 

 period at which it furnishes herbage in the spring; it also is one of 

 the latest in autumn : the latter property renders it one of the most 

 valuable grasses in permanent pastures, a part of which it ought always 

 to form, though from the spreading habit of the plant, which has been 

 compared to that of the strawberry, it should not constitute so large a 

 proportion of the mixture as some other S2>ecies. This grass is not so 

 advantageously cultivated by itself for the purpose of pasturing, as it is 

 making hay, on account of the peculiar maimer of its growth ; and for 

 when in this [way cultivated, it is necessary, to obtain the full araount 

 of profit, that the plants should be kept free from weeds; and as its 

 spreading roots in a considerable degree exhaust the surface of the soil, 

 a top dressing of manure will be found necessary. This gi'ass, which was 

 found from seven to ten feet long, constituted a part of the hay gi'own 

 in the neighbourhood of Salisbury, an account of which is published in 

 the Linnaean Transactions : two acres and a half of land, according to 

 this account, produced the astonishing quantity of ten tons of hay in 

 one year. The creeping under-ground stems contain much nutritious 

 matter and sugar, from which circumstance, in some parts of France 

 and Italy, they are collected as food for horses, and from the presence 

 of the saccharine matter it has been proposed to ferment them, and 

 brew table-beer. 



