98 AIRA. [class III. ORDER II. 



linear, flat, ribbed, rough on the edges and upper side, with very sharp 

 teeth pointing- towards the extremity, smooth beneath. Sheaths close, 

 short, striated, smooth. Ligula lanceolate, three ribbed, smooth, often 

 torn. Inflorescence a large slender widely spreading panicle, its 

 branches fine, hair-like, roughish, and angular. Glumes unequal, 

 lanceolate, silvery-grey, greeu or purplish, pale and membranous on 

 the edges, the outer valve smallest, with a roughish keel, the inner 

 with a roughish keel and two lateral ribs. Florets rather longer than 

 the glumes, with a few white silky hairs at the base, the loicer one 

 sessile, the upper on a short hairy stalk, the valves ovate, obtuse, erose, 

 the outer generally with five short teeth, and arising from near the base 

 is a straight roughish awn about as long as the valve, the inirer bifid ; 

 at the base of the inner valve of the upper floret, there is generally a 

 short hairy stalk, on abortive floret. Anthers yellow or purplish. 

 Stigmas short, feathery. 



It is sometimes found with viviparous flowers. 



Habitat. — In moorish and shady situations, the borders of woods, 

 marshes, &c., common. 



Perennial ; flowering from June to August. 



The coarseness of this grass, and the small proportion of nutritive 

 matter that it contains, renders it totally unfit for any agricultural 

 purposes; cattle never eat it, even when in a young state, but from great 

 necessity. It forms dense unsightly tufts in pastures, which are called 

 by farmers, hassocks, bulls' faces, &c., are difficult to be extirpated, 

 and can only be retarded in their growth by early and frequent mowing-, 

 to remove them entirely, the only efi'ectual mode, according to Sinclair, is 

 to first pare and burn the surface of the land, and by making proper 

 drains, to correct, as much as possible, the tenacious nature of the soil ; 

 in this case surface drains are as necessary as those termed hollow. 



3. A. alpi'na, Linn. (Fig. 123.) smooth alpine Hair-grass. Panicle 

 rather close, its branches smooth ; florets as long as the glumes, 

 hairy at the base, the outer valve with a straight awn proceeding 

 from about the middle, and extending a little beyond the extre^ 

 mity ; leaves short. 

 English Flora, vol. i. p. 103. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 308. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 46. 



Root fibrous. Stems from twelve to eighteen inches high, quite 

 smooth, enveloped to the top in the sheaths. Leaves short, linear, rib- 

 bed rough on the upper side, smooth beneath. The edges rolled so 

 firmly inwards that they appear awl shaped. Sheaths long, smooth, 

 striated. Ligula oblong, obtuse, mostly torn. Inflorescence an erect, 

 rather small smootli branched panicle, much smaller and far less 

 spreading than the last, except when in a viviparous state, which is 

 mostly the case, then it is more drooping and spreading. Glumet 

 lanceolate, somewhat unequal, smooth. Florets two, surrounded at tli» 



