170 BRITISH GRASSES. 



extending a quarter of its length beyond the summit of 

 the floret, and by the remarkably beautiful colour of the 

 spikelets, which are of a rich chocolate hue tipped with 

 white. In this form of the plant, the sheaths and the 

 backs of the leaves are smooth, and the second floret is 

 placed on a long hairy footstalk. Dr. Parnell records it 

 as gathered on Ben Lawers. 



A. c&spitosa, var. brevifolia (Short-leaved Tufted 

 Air a), is also an alpine variety, only found on the high- 

 est of the Scotch mountains, never descending lower 

 than three thousand feet above sea-level. Its short root- 

 leaves and smooth sheaths and stem are distinctive fea- 

 tures. The panicle is small when compared with that 

 of the normal form, and the spikelets are coloured as in 

 the last variety. The foliage is abundant though short, 

 but the plant is shy in producing stems, only one arising 

 from the centre of a dense tuft of leaves, all of which 

 are harsh in texture and folded. The beautifully-tinted 

 spikelets are large in comparison to the size of the pa- 

 nicle. Both these varieties flower in August. 



The Tufted Hair-grass is distinguished from the Al- 

 pine Hair-grass by the situation of the awn near the 

 base of the flowering glume, and from the Wavy Hair- 

 grass by the awn of the lower floret not reaching beyond 

 the summit of the outer glumes. 



This grass is abundant in every part of England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland, producing its panicles in great 

 numbers in July, when they nod while in bud, and be- 

 come erect and diffuse in flower ; the seeds ripen in 

 September. But when the seeds are ripe, the panicles 

 do not necessarily come to an end ; they lose their sil- 

 very brightness, and change their delicate hue for a 

 universal straw tint, and in sheltered situations they 



