163 



^ + 



h I 



Stipa pennata. Long-awned Feather-grass, 



Generic character : Calyx 2- valve d, 1-flowered; corolla outer valve ending in au awn; 



awn 



/ 



joined at the base. 



Specific character: Awns woolly. 



0^5.— Awns from six to twelve inches long or more, set with very fine, soft, white, pellucid 

 hairs. In Ray s Synopsis, p. 393, this elegant grass is said to have been found by 

 Dr. Richardson and Thomas Lawson, on the limestone rocks hanging over a little valley 

 called Longsdale, about six miles north of Kendal, in Westmoi'eland. Hudson gives no 



■ ^ 



Other place of growth; but in the second edition of Withering's Botanical Arrangement of 

 British Plants, Mr. Alderson is said to have found it near Kendal. Mr. Gough, who lives 



near Kendal, informs Dr. Withering, that he never could find, nor hear of its being found 

 by any person except the two first-mentioned Gentlemen; there is therefore reason to fear 

 that it may be exterminated, (Wither. Arr.) 

 Experiments. — ^At the time of flowering, the produce from a heath soil, is. 



Grass, 14 oz. The produce per acre 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry 



The produce of the space, ditto 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 



64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 



The produce of the space, ditto 



dr. qr, 



oz. 



152460 



lbs, 



9528 12 



29 

 81 01 



55'2.m 12 



3454 2 12 



6074 9 4 



2 3 



9 2i 



6551 



409 7 



This produce was taken from a heath soil that had heen planted with the grass ; for I never 

 could obtain plants from the seed of this grass when sown in the ordinary w^ay on soils in open 

 situations. In pots and favourable situations, the seeds vegetated very well; it may probably 

 be owing to some pecubarity of this kind in the seed, that it is not now to be found in a wild state 

 in this country. Schrader, in his Flora Germanica, and Host, in his Gramina Anstriacorum, 

 inform us, that the 8tipa pennata grows wild in many parts of Germany, on alpine, or dry 

 sandy places that are much exposed to the warmth of the sun. 



Though, as far as the above experiments prove, it cannot be propagated by the seed on a 

 large scale, yet by parting the roots it may soon be propagated to any extent ; but its agricultu- 

 ral merits appear to be so inconsiderable, as to rank it with the inferior grasses. The beautiful 

 feather-like awns which terminate the larger valves of the blossom, and which adhere to the 

 seed, serving as a sail to waft it from rock to rock, have procured it a place in the flower-gar- 

 dens of the curious, and serve to distinguish it at once from all other grasses. Johnson, the edi- 

 tor of Gerarde's Herbal, says it was nourished for its beauty in sundry of our English gardens ; 



and that it was worn by sundry ladies and gentlewomen instead of a feather, which it exqni- 

 sitely resembles, &c. 



tember. 



Augu 



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