180 



BRITISH GRASSES. 



minute teeth on the apex, five-nerved, roughish on the keel, 

 and with hairs on the base, awned ; awn situated above 

 the centre of the keel, stout and twisted in the lower part, 

 thin and stiff above, rough on the upper part, and bent 

 when dry. 



Dry pastures, heaths, rocky places, and, above all, 

 chalk meadows are the natural habitats of the Perennial 



or Narrow-leaved Oat. No 

 one can traverse the thinly 

 covered meadows bordering 

 the stretch of downs famous 

 as Salisbury Plain, without 

 being attracted by the broad 

 loose spikes of this grass, the 

 somewhat dishevelled ap- 

 pearance of which claims the 

 notice of botanists at once. 

 Few Wiltshire meadows are 

 without this grass. It 

 flowers in June, and is of 

 most value for agricultural 

 purposes at that time, as it 

 then contains most nutritive 

 matter. Sheep and cows relish the early foliage best. 

 It is frequent in the situations already indicated through- 

 out Britain, and also in Lapland, Norway, Sweden, Ger- 

 many, France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. 



Var. pubescens has a perennial root, somewhat creep- 

 ing ; an erect, simple, roundish, smooth, striated, leafy 

 stem, one or two feet high; leaves spreading, sharp, 

 acute, flat, covered with soft down, those of the root 

 most downy ; sheaths finely ribbed, downy, upper one 

 thrice the length of its leaf; ligule acute, prominent ; 



