TRIAXDRIA DIGYNIA. Tnticum. 33 



H. pratense. Meadow B. Side flowers imperfect, with 

 awns. All the calyx valves bristle-shaped and rough. 

 E. B. 409. Gramen secalinum, G. E. 29. 



Meadows, pastures, especially such as are rather moist. 



Per. June. 



Culms erect, eighteen inches, to two feet. Ls. roughish. Cal. 

 valve-awns shorter than in H. murinum. Involucrets bristly, 

 rough. Spike more close, and narrow than in H. inurinum. In 

 moist meadows, produces a considerable crop of hay. 



TRI'TICUM. Wheat.' Wheat-grass. 



T. repens. Creeping Wlieat-grass. Couch-grass, Ca- 

 lyx-valves pointed, or awned, spear-shaped, many- 

 ribbed. Florets about five, sharp-pointed, or awned. 

 Leaves flat. Root creeping. E. B. 909. 



Waste, as well as cultivated land, almost every where. 



Per. July. 



Slender, erect, two feet. Ls. upper side rough. 



Roots mildly aperient, diuretic : may be made into bread. Sold 

 in the market at Naples to feed horses with. Sweet liquorish 

 taste. Recommended by Boerhaave, and Plenck in visceral, and 

 hepatic obstructions. Dogs eat the leaves to excite vomiting. Ge- 

 rarde observes in his Herbal, " although that couch-grasse be an 

 unwelcome guest to fields and gardens, yet his physicke vertues do 

 recompence those hurts." The fibres of the root downy ; a provi- 

 sion of nature, found in most grasses of very dry situations, in order 

 to fix them more securely, or to multiply the surface, and points of 

 absorption. 



T. caninum. ' Fibrous-rooted TVheat-grass. Calyx- 

 valves somewhat aAvned, with three or five ribs. 

 Florets four, awned. Leaves flat. Root fibrous. E. 

 B. 1372. 



Woods, shady hedges, on a chalky, or limestone soil. Sm. Stoken- 

 church Woods plentifully. Ray. Stow Wood, Tar Wood, 

 Stokenchurch, Ardley. Sb. Road side of towing-path, near 

 Oxford. Bx. 



Per. July. 



Straight, erect, bright green. Ls. rough on both sides. The oppo- 

 site calyx-valves distinguish T. caninum from an Elymus. Di- 

 vided from Triticum by Linn, on account of the lower spikelets 

 being double. The fibrous root distinguishes this from T. repens. 



' Ang. Sax. 



D 



