152 BRITISH GRASSES. 



pend so much on the nature of the land where the plant 

 is established. 



The large full panicle of delicately tinted florets and 

 the verdant colour of the foliage, make this a very pic- 

 torial grass, inferior only to the Silky Bent in charm. 



2. Agrostis canina^ Linn. Brown Agrostis. 



Boot creeping, perennial; stem at first prostrate, then 

 ascending, a little branching, round, smooth, glossy, from 

 one to two feet high; joints smooth; leaves narrow and 

 tapering when springing from the stem, bristle-shaped when 

 springing from the root, rough above and below, and toothed 

 on the margins ; sheaths smooth ; ligule long ; panicle com- 

 pound, often tinted with yellow-brown, erect, spreading in 

 flower, but closing as the seed ripens ; branches of rachis 

 rough, very slender, and quivering under the trifling weight 

 of the light florets ; spikelets numerous, pointed, situated 

 on footstalks about their own length ; outer glumes long 

 and pointed, the keels toothed ; flowering glume ovate, five- 

 ribbed, serrated at the apex, and a little hairy at the base, 

 awned ; the awn taking its rise at the middle of the keel 

 rather nearer the apex than the base, about the same length 

 as the glume, but liable to variation ; the filaments are 

 about half the length of the outer glumes, the long anthers 

 reaching to the apex of the same glumes. 



This Bent-grass is very frequent in mountain districts, 

 and prevails in the same countries as the Common Bent. 

 It is to be found all over Britain, and also in Sweden, 

 Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, and Ame- 

 rica. Dr. Parnell suggests that in the last named coun- 

 try it has been introduced. 



It is a very elegant grass ; the brown colour of the 

 outer glumes and the silky glossy appearance of the 



