174 



BRITISH GRASSES. 



height 



than six inches, its foliage minute in proportion. 

 Sir J. E. Smith describes it 

 as growing on the walls of 

 Basle, and in the sandy fields 

 of Germany and Piedmont. 

 Other authors have gathered 

 it in Norway and Sweden, 

 France, Holland, Belgium, 

 Spain, Portugal, Turkey, 

 Greece, and the Islands of 

 the Mediterranean. No ag- 

 ricultural use is attributed 

 to it. It flowers in July and 

 ripens its seed in August. 



4. Aira praecox, Linn. Early Aira. 



Eoot annual, fibrous; stems leafy, erect, three to six 

 inches high ; leaves bristle-shaped, short ; sheaths angular, 

 pale ; panicle compound, narrow, almost spike-like ; spike- 

 lets minute, crowded ; outer glumes equal, embracing the 

 florets; flowering glumes small, cleft at the top, sessile, 

 naked at the base, and awned at the back ; awn arising 

 a little above the base, and extending considerably beyond 

 the outer glumes ; palea shorter than the flowering glume, 

 with two blunt teeth at its summit ; anthers short, cloven 

 at both ends. 



The Early Hair-grass is often overlooked from its 

 minute size and early appearance. Sandy and hilly 

 pastures, dry commons, and the banks of brooks and 

 ditches, are its favourite habitats. Early in May its 

 folded sheaths become conspicuous to any who examine 

 the sandy banks in search of mosses and lichens ; at that 



