GENERA OF GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 129 
color of the panicle. This species is an erect plant 2 to 4 feet 
high, producing rhizomes, and often decumbent at base, with flat 
blades, prominent, somewhat pointed ligule, and an open, usually red- 
dish panicle, 2 to 12 inches long, contracted in fruit, the branches in 
whorls. Redtop is cultivated as a meadow and pasture grass in the 
Northern States, especially upon soils lacking in lime and upon soils 
too wet for timothy. In Pennsylvania and some other localities this 
species is called herd’s-grass. 
Agrostis capillaris L. (A. tenuis Sibth., A. vulgaris With., A. 
alba vulgaris Thurb.), Rhode Island bent,’ differs from red- 
top in its smaller size, more delicate culms and foliage, short truncate 
ligule, smaller, more open, and fewer flowered panicle, not contract- 
ing after flowering. Stolons are usually absent but may be as much 
as 4 to 8 inches long. Rhode Island bent is often used as a lawn 
grass, especially in the Northeastern States, where the soil is lacking 
in lime and bluegrass does not thrive. In some botanical works the 
name Agrostis canina has been incorrectly applied to Rhode Island 
bent. Agrostis canina L., a European species occasionally introduced 
into the Eastern States, is a frequent constituent of the commercial 
seed of creeping bent. It is called velvet bent and gives promise 
of being a fine lawn grass. 
Carpet bent, also called creeping bent, is a form of A. stolonifera. 
This produces stolons from 1 to 4 feet long and is also used as a 
lawn grass in the same region as that described for Rhode Island bent. 
The seed has been imported from southern Germany. 
Fiorin is a name that was applied in England to a coast form with 
stoloniferous habit, long ligule, and narrow dense panicles. This 
form is found along the northern Atlantic coast of Europe and 
America and along the Pacific coast from British Columbia to north- 
ern California. It has been called A. maritima Lam. and A. alba 
maritima (Lam.) Meyer. It is apparently indigenous in America, 
while A. capillaris and A. palustris appear to be introductions. 
Several native species of Agrostis are found in the western part of 
the United States, especially in mountain meadows. One of the 
commonest of the western species is A. exarata Trin., with contracted, 
sometimes spikelike, panicles and awned or awnless spikelets, found 
at all altitudes throughout the western portion of the United States. 
according to Jackson (Index to the Linnwan Herbarium, Proc. Linn. Soc. London, 
124th Sess. Suppl. 1912), these specimens were added to the herbarium after 1753 and 
can not, therefore, have weight in determining the original application of the name.  Lin- 
neus did not refer, under Agrostis alba, to his flora of Sweden. It would appear that he 
did not intend to apply the name originally to a Swedish plant. The species usually 
known as Agrostis alba is common in Sweden, but apparently was included by Linnwus 
under A. stolonifera, to which it is closely allied. It was not until later that he applied 
the name to the species as now represented in his herbarium. Under these circumstances 
if seems best to drop the name Agrostis alba, as has been done by Piper (U. 8. Dept. Agr. 
Bull. 692, 1918) and by Stapf, as indicated in a letter to Piper. 
See Piper, The Agricultural Species of Bent Grasses. U.S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 692. 1918. 
97769° —19—Bull. 7729 
