184 86. GRAMINA. 



alien, renewed by repeated introduction, in the northern 

 provinces. The counties or provinces in wliich we should 

 draw the line of separation between its character of ' colo- 

 nist ' and ' alien ', must be conventional choice onl5^ In 

 a letter dated May 9, 1844, the late Mr. Thomas Edmond- 

 ston replied to my query, that the Avena fatua was " per- 

 fectly indigenous in Shetland." In his published Flora, 

 the following year, he describes it as found in " cornfields, 

 rather local" ; but where did it grow in those isles when 

 no corn was cultivated there ? Mr. J. T. Syme designates 

 it " a troublesome weed " in Orkney. Doubtfully native 

 of Moray (Coll. Mor.). Abundant in cornfields about 

 Aberdeen (Flo. Abred.). Doubtfully native in Kincar- 

 dine (Mr. J. T. Syme). Absent from Forfar (Flo. Forf.) ; 

 and equally so fi'om the Glasgow and Edinburgh circuits 

 (Flo. Glott. and B. S. Ed. Cat.). Found about Jedburgh 

 (Duncan, Cat.), and Berwick on Tweed (Flo. Bei*w.). Al- 

 together it would still seem to be very partial, or even 

 local only, in Scotland. In several parts of Durham, 

 Yorkshii-e, and South Lancashire (Floras). 



1308. Avena strigosa, Schreb. 



Area (1 3 3 * 5 * 7 8 9 10 11 * 13 14 15 16 17 18). 



Alien. The local or distributive census of this species 

 is the converse of that of A. fatua. The present one is 

 rare m England generally, and very seldom found in the 

 southern provinces, except as a few stray specimens among 

 the sown crops of Avena sativa or of wheat ; while in 

 Scotland it is decidedly more frequent, kept up by direct 

 cultivation of it to some extent still in the Highlands or 

 Isles. In England, if not in Britain generally, the Avena 

 sativa has more title to be deemed a naturalized species, 

 than has the A. strigosa. And j^et, curiously enough, the 



