PHLEUM. 



127 



acute, smooth on the surfaces, but rough at the edges; 

 sheaths smooth, striated, the uppermost long and much in- 

 flated ; ligule obtuse ; panicle spike-shaped, ovate-oblong, 

 bristly, brownish, about one inch long ; spikelets small, on 

 short footstalks ; outer glume abrupt, fringed at the keel, 

 which is prolonged into an awn more than half the length 

 of the glume itself, and very stout and rough ; flowering 

 glume ovate, fine-ribbed, jagged at the summit, keel hairy, 

 with a very short awn ; palea shorter, its margins fringed ; 

 anthers shorter and broader in proportion than in the last 

 species. 



This grass varies from the last in its shorter and more 

 bristly panicle and lower 

 growth. It is an unimpor- 

 tant species, frequenting al- 

 pine pastures in Lapland, 

 Germany, Switzerland, Swe- 

 den, Norway, Scotland, 

 North America, and the 

 United States. Its British 

 habitats are in the higher 

 Scotch mountains, and it is 

 generally found there below 

 the average stature. It 

 flowers in July and August. 



3. Phleum Boehmeri, Schrad. Purple-stalked 

 Cat's-tail-grass. 



(Phalaris phleoides, Eng. Bot.) 

 Eoot perennial, of numerous smooth fibres ; stems simple, 

 crowded, erect, leafy below, twelve to eighteen inches high, 

 naked above, polished, and generally beautifully tinted with 



