LeersiaJ] Cvii. gramine^. 529 



-■ ' . 



an outer corolla or perianth. A, gracile differs by the awns of both 

 the neuter florets being shorter than the upper glume. Stamens only 

 2, whereby this genus departs perhaps from all our other grasses, ex- 

 cept Bromus diaiidrus and Hierochloe^ in which last the two lateral 

 barren florets are triandrous. Stigmaa very long, linear, 



B. Stamens 3. Style and Stigma 1. (Gen. 2.) 



^\ 



2. Nardus Linn. Mat 



■) 



Spile simple, unilateral. Spikelets 1 -flowered. Glumes 0. 

 Glumellas 2 ; the outer one keeled with a long subulate point. 

 Stigma elongated, filiform, papillose. — Name, from vapSoc, for- 

 merly given to an odoriferous substance, but not applicable in 

 this case. 



\ 



L N. strida L. (Mat-grass.) E. B. t. 290 : Parn. Gr. t. 2. 



Moors and heaths, most abundant- 2/.. 6. — A grass of simple 

 structure, growing in short tufts so coarse and rigid that cattle will . 

 not eat it. Culms and leaves setaceous. Spike long, erect, slender 

 grooved, and toothed at short distances for the insertion of the florets! 

 Glumellas lanceolate : outer one coriaceous, purplish-green, tapering 

 gradually into an awn; inner smaller, awnless, membranous. The 

 only species of the genus. 



C. Stamens 3 (or very rarely 1) in some or all of the florets. 



Styles or stigmas 2. 



a. Spikelets very rarely sessile and spiked, usually pedicellate and 

 panicled. (Tab. IX. f, 42. d.) Panicle often very compact 

 so as to appear spiked. (Tab. IX. f. 42. c.) (Gen. 3—34.) 



* Spikelets with a single perfect floret, and no barren ones ; 



florets 



'O 



of empty glumellas much smaller than the perfect on 



, (Tab. VI. f. 3— 13.) (Gen. 3-14.) 



3. Leersia Soland. Cut-grass. 



Panicle lax, often contracted. Spikelets compressed laterally. 

 Glumes wanting. Glumellas 2, chartaceous, navicular, muclx 

 compressed, awnless, inclosing the loose caryopsis ; lower one 

 much the broader. Stamens 3 or 6, rarely 1. — Named in ho- 

 nour of John Daniel Leers, a German botanist, who published 



Herhornensis 



1. L. 



oryzoides Sw. {European C.) ; panicle effuse the 

 branches not appressed, spikelet half-elliptical strongly ciliated 

 triandrous, leaves very rough, ligule short. E. B. S. t. 2908. 



Ditches, drains of water, meadows, brooks, and pools, rare. Near 

 -Henfield, and Arundel, Sussex ; Mole river, Surrey ; Boldre river, 



A A 



