82 BRITISH GRASSES. 



The common Meadow Quaking Grass is sometimes 

 cultivated as a garden plant, and forms a very pretty 

 object. We give the description of it among the British 

 grasses. 



The Love- grasses [Eragrostis] are elegant plants, resem- 

 bling the Briza family in habit and dancing charm, and 

 like them they never fail to attract the notice of children. 

 They are especially adapted for pots and bouquets. 



They are more nearly allied to Poa in general character 

 than to Briza, and in former days were included in the 

 Poa group. The larger species has an erect panicle, much 

 branched and spreading, and numerous tumid florets 

 with three well-developed keels. It is free-growing, bears 

 many stems, and is perfectly smooth. Its foliage is of 

 a rich, fresh green, and spreading widely; the spikelets 

 vary in number from ten to thirty-six, they are narrow, 

 and hung on very slender footstalks, are glossy as satin, 

 and variegated with green and purple. It is a native of 

 Greece and Barbary. 



Eragrostis elegantissima is smaller; its panicles are 

 erect, branched, and spreading, and its spikelets taper- 

 ing, numerous, and of a rich purple colour. It is found 

 in Switzerland, France, and Italy. 



The golden-spiked Dog's-tail grass (Chrysurus cyno- 

 suroides) is a very charming variety for the sake of its 

 golden colour. The culm grows about nine inches high, 

 is much jointed, and often produces a branch from one 

 of the lowest joints. Leaves narrow, short, tapering; 

 the sheaths smooth and channeled. The panicle is two 

 or three inches long, and somewhat dense ; the spikelets 

 grow in threes, they are barren, and contain two florets ; 

 one of the glumes has a long awn proceeding from a 

 little below its apex, — this gives the spikelets a downy 



