PHLEUM. 129 



glumes ; from P. arenarium in the absence of fringe on 

 the margins of the glumes ; from P. asperum in the 

 bristles of the outer glumes ; and P. Michelii by the 

 bristles of the keels and the narrower form of the 

 glumes. 



Boehmer's CatVtail-grass flowers in July, and ripens 

 its seed in August. 



4. Phleum asperum, Jacq. Rough Phleum. 



(P. paniculatum, Eng. Bot.) 



Root perennial, of many branched fibres ; stems several, 

 branched, leafy, smooth, about a foot high, with four joints 

 covered by the sheaths ; leaves ribbed, roughish, bright 

 grass-green, not at all glaucous, flat, acute, the long sheath of 

 the uppermost leaf often reaching above the base of the pa- 

 nicle ; ligule prominent, tapering to a point ; panicle cylin- 

 drical, very rough, two or three inches long, the branches 

 mostly arranged in threes, grass-green ; spikelets numerous, 

 compressed; outer glumes equal, wedge-shaped, rough, ribbed, 

 variegated with green and white, obtuse at the summit 

 though tapering to a narrow end and remarkably tumid in 

 the upper part ; flowering glume a third part shorter, ellip- 

 tical, roughish, obscurely fine-ribbed, obtuse at the summit ; 

 palea smaller, folded at the margins ; ovary oval ; filaments 

 long, hair-like ; anthers short and pale, cloven at each end ; 

 styles two ; stigmas feathery. 



In dry open fields, this grass is occasionally found, 

 but it is rare in Britain ; Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, 

 Gloucestershire, and Bedfordshire are cited as its espe- 

 cial counties, but it is a scarce plant in any of them. 

 It is found in France, Holland, Belgium, and Switzer- 

 land. Its scarcity is not a matter of distress to the 



K 



