HORDEUM. 201 



In some species each of the three spikelets contain a per- 

 fect floret ; in others the lateral ones are male, and only the 

 central one perfect. 



1. Hordeum sylvaticum, Huds. Wood Barley. 



{JElymics HJuropceus, Eng. Bot.) 



Eoot perennial, fibrous, tufted ; stems erect, cylindrical, 

 nearly smooth, two feet high ; joints minutely hairy ; leaves 

 lanceolate, flat, pointed, rough ; sheaths ribbed, roughish ; 

 ligule short ; spike cylindrical, dense, two or three inches 

 long, uniform ; racbis rough, angular, toothed alternately, 

 from fourteen to twenty-one teeth in the spike ; spikelets 

 in clusters on each tooth, the central' one consisting only 

 of two very narrow glumes, not fringed, often empty, but 

 sometimes containing a male flower or the rudiment of one ; 

 the two lateral spikelets have a perfect floret each, and 

 sometimes a rudimentary one also ; outer glumes of perfect 

 florets broader and longer, equal, parallel, three-ribbed, 

 roughish, awned, and fringed ; the flowering glume is 

 shorter, five-ribbed, hairy at the base, and furnished with a 

 very long, rough awn ; the palea has two delicately fringed 

 ribs, and a bristle at the base ; the ovary is hairy ; the 

 styles short ; the stamens long and feathery ; the two scales 

 long and pointed. 



The Wood Barley is, as its name indicates, an inha- 

 bitant of woods and thickets. In such situations it is 

 found in the midland and northern counties of England, 

 and in Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, and Denbighshire. It is 

 not found in Scotland or Ireland. 



It has no agricultural value, nor is it particularly 

 ornamental. The stem, leaves, and spike are of a uni- 

 form moderate greenness, and even when the florets 

 first open, and the anthers are obtruded, a time when 



