fie 



\ 





5' Br^, 

 ^-3 ft. 

 't 111(1. 



'folate, 

 midrib, 



not in 



lanon 



other, 

 prin. 



' base, 

 to the 



ffiucro 



blets 

 onate 

 led 

 spike 

 eaves 

 Ii rib 



us as 



lerva- 

 ithis 

 as 3 



oiiie- 



pun' 



:e is 

 }Iute 



iting 

 thus 



Iiese 



tbe 



rous 



rves 



tlie 

 jset 



^ 



Triticum.'] 



CVII. GRAMINE^ 



571 



lono-er mucro than in T. laxum : the mucro or apiculus is blunt in 

 both. The rachis of T. laxum is said not to be brittle at the nodes as 

 in seed-bearing plants of T. junceum ; but our specimens are only in 

 flower, in which state we find no difference. Both produce decumbent 

 barren leafy shoots. It appears to us, then, that the two differ only by 

 comparative characters, and by none which are positive or structural. 



4. T. repens L. {creeping TT., or CoitcTi-grass) ; spike elon- 

 frated, spikelets 4 — 8-flowered, glumes acuminate awned or 

 awnless 5— 7-ribbed, outer glumella acuminate or with an awn 

 scarcely ever so long as the glumella 5-nerved, keel or awn of 

 the glumes and glumellas scabrous, rachis of the spikelets sca- 

 brous, leaves plane or involute at the edge, with a smgle row of 

 hairs or points on the ribs in the upper side, root creeping. — a. 

 green, rachis of the spike glabrous or downy rough with ascend- 

 ino- short bristles on the angles, leaves flat. E. B. t. 909 : 



Parn. Gr. tt. 62, 63. 



•/?. glaucous, rachis of the spike nearly 



T. 



quite smooth, leaves more or less involute at ^the edges. 



littorale Host 



P, near the sea. 



O. 6—S. 

 In a. there 



, Fields and waste places everywhere. — ^ 

 —Inhabit between the preceding and the following species, 

 are numerous hairs on the nerves of the leaves, but mixed with points 

 which are abortive hairs ; in )3. the hairs are few, and are sometimes 

 all abortive. Van ;8. must be carefully distinguished from T. laxnm, 

 and is best known by the acute, or (in this country we believe 

 always) awned florets. The common variety is the pest of corn- 

 fields, being diflScult to be extirpated, on account of its long creep- 

 ing roots. 



5. T. caninum Huds. (fibrous-rooted W.) ; spike elongated, 

 "■ ' ■ . . ^ 5 -flowered, glumes 3 — 4-ribbed, and 



spikelets approximate 2 



well as the 5 -ribbed outer 



as 



oflumella 



acuminate awned, 

 rachis of the spike hispid on the angles, of the spikelets. harshly 

 downy, leaves flat, root fibrous (perennial). — a. spikelets 4 — 5- 

 flowered, awn of the florets usually longer than its glumella, 

 leaves rough on both sides. E. B. 1. 1372 : Parn. Gr. t. 62. — 

 Elymus L. — 13. spikelets 2 — 4-flowered, awn of the florets 3 

 (or more) times shorter than its glumella, leaves glabrous 

 except on the margin. T. biflorum Mitten in Lond. Journ. 

 Bot. vij. p. 532 (scarcely of BiHgnoU). T. alpinum Don. 



Woods and banks, frequent.-— )3. Ben Lawers ; G. Bon. If.. 7- 



— Best distinguished from the last by its fibrous roots. The glumes 



have only 3 principal nerves or ribs, but occasionally a smaller and 



shorter one may be seen on the side between the lateral nerve and 



the midrib. Such specimens as we have examined of Don's T. 



alpinum^ are indistinguishable from T, caninum., except by the above 



characters and these are obviously owing to its being found in an 



elevated situation. What the T. biflorum of Brignoli really is, we do 



not know, further than that he discribes it with an annual root, and 



constantly 2-flowered spikelets, and that he never found more than 

 one tuft of it. 



f ' 



