ORNAMENTAL GRASSES. 75 



sessile." It is very attractive for borders, pots, and 

 bouquets. 



Panicum capillare resembles P. colonum, but its pa- 

 nicle is still more airy and elegant, the branches of the 

 rachis truly deserving the denomination capillary. It 

 grows from one to two feet high, and its sheaths are 

 large and very downy, the last one extending so high 

 as to envelope the base of the panicle, and seem like 

 a cornucopia holding the delicate bouquet of flowering 

 branches which throng the rachis in whorls. 



This Panick group is a very extensive one, and con- 

 tains species of a great diversity of habit, the panicles of 

 some being so diffuse and their branches so slender as 

 to resemble a crowd of green flies, while in others the 

 branches are so short and thick, and the florets so crowded, 

 as to give the panicle the form of a more or less inter- 

 rupted spike or cone. The foliage is equally variable, 

 now almost as broad as the Zea leaf, and then so narrow 

 as to be quite linear. 



Some members of the Elymus family group well in 

 grass plantation or shrubbery. 



Elymus giganteus grows from seven to eight feet high, 

 raising a large compact spike on the summit of the almost 

 perpendicular culm. It is a grand simple plant, but the 

 foliage is rigid and does not droop, so as to carry off the 

 stiffness of the very erect spikes. It is a perennial grass, 

 and flowers in June and July. 



Elymus glaucifolius is more graceful in habit, the 

 culms bending outwards and the spikes arching slightly. 

 The leaves spread widely, and their glaucous hue is 

 very pleasing. The height of the plant is about three 

 feet, it is a native of North America, and flourished well 

 in Kew Gardens this year. 



