ALOPECURUS. 



135 



and we pass them many a time with little notice, until 

 one sunny morning we miss the uniform greenness of 

 the clubs, and behold instead a dense fringe of quiver- 

 ing orange anthers. A few 

 hours, and the sleek glumes 

 are seen no more for the 

 crowd of tassels that quiver 

 all round the spike ; no one 

 need overlook the Meadow 

 Foxtail now, for its blos- 

 soms are as charming in 

 their way as the purple tas- 

 sels of the Vernal-grass, and 

 the tall culms are so in ad- 

 vance of the surrounding 

 grasses that they stand out 

 in striking clusters over the 

 young May meadow. Flower 

 lovers gather these grasses for their collections, and hope 

 to preserve them in all their beauty ; but alas ! though 

 the form and often the tint of the foliage may be admi- 

 rably preserved, the myriad dancing anthers are evanes- 

 cent decorations, for, when the filaments are dry, their 

 strength fails them, and the gay orange anthers are left 

 behind between the pressing sheets. 



The Meadow Foxtail is a very valuable agricultural 

 grass. It is, as we have seen, one of the earliest in de- 

 veloping its treasures of leaf and flower. It does not 

 add very materially to the weight of the hay crop, be- 

 cause it produces but few culms. There are few good 

 natural pastures where it is absent, and in many famous 

 for their richness it is the principal grass ; it occurs 

 abundantly, according to Sinclair, in the pastures of 



