186 



BRITISH GRASSES. 



placed in pairs of unequal length ; branchlets very slender, 

 hairy ; spikelets pedulous, two-flowered ; outer glumes 

 nearly equal, the innermost broadest, both hairy, membra- 

 naceous, the upper one awned slightly ; the second floret 

 on a short stalk ; flowering glumes oval, shorter than the 

 outer ones, faintly five-ribbed, blunt at the summit, hairy 

 at the base ; palea about equal in length to the flowering 

 glume, membranaceous, obtuse, hairy at the edges ; stalk 

 of upper floret long, smooth ; awn of flowering glume short, 

 bent near the base and then straight until the seed ripens, 

 when the awn curves like a fish-hook and conceals itself 

 under the outer glumes, it is rough at the summit and 

 smooth below. 



A very common and familiar grass, well answering to 



its old English name Mea- 

 dow Soft-grass ; its universal 

 downiness gives it a grey 

 tint, its stems are generally 

 about a foot high, and the 

 panicles are very compact 

 until the spikelets open, then 

 it spreads. It is not re- 

 markable for grace or bright- 

 ness. 



Various opinions have 

 been set forth regarding the 

 agricultural value of this 

 grass. At the latter part of 

 the eighteenth century it 

 was cultivated in Yorkshire 

 for its seeds, and threshed like corn ; it was then known 

 by the name of " Yorkshire fog." It is undoubtedly 

 very productive, and has also the advantage of being 



