222 BRITISH GRASSES. 



Genus XXX. BROMUS. BROME- GRASS. 



Gen. Char. Spikelets many-flowered ; outer glumes two, 

 spreading, collecting the florets into an oblong two-rowed 

 spikelet, ovate-oblong, pointed, awnless, the lower the 

 smallest ; flowering glumes the size and form of the outer, 

 or longer, concave, obtuse, and cleft at the summit with a 

 straight awn rising just below the apex; paleas lanceolate, 

 small, awnless, nerved, the nerves hairy ; scales ovate, acute, 

 swollen at the base ; ovary hairy ; styles two, short, reflex, 

 hairy, placed on the side of the summit of the ovary ; stig- 

 mas simple ; seed oblong, convex on one side, furrowed on 

 the other. 



1. Bromus erectus, Huds. Upright Brome-Grass. 



Root perennial, black, fibrous, downy ; stem erect, stiff 

 and straight, simple, rarely downy, three feet high ; joint 

 somewhat downy ; leaves linear-lanceolate, ribbed, rough, 

 acute, nearly erect, with long slender hairs pointing up- 

 wards, the upper ones broader than those of the root ; 

 sheaths striated, smooth, or slightly hairy, the hairs ascend- 

 ing; ligule short, blunt, ragged; inflorescence panicled; 

 panicle nearly simple, or a little branched, erect ; branches 

 and rachis rough, the lower branches placed in clusters of 

 three together; spikelets linear-oblong, compressed, erect, 

 often of a purple hue, either smooth or downy, containing 

 eight or nine florets ; outer glumes lanceolate, acute, keeled, 

 the inner one the larger and three-nerved, glossy; dorsal 

 rib toothed all along lower part, without lateral ribs ; flower- 

 ing glume lanceolate, with closely appressed hairs on the 

 back, bifid at the summit, seven-ribbed, four of the ribs 

 being very faint, the midrib toothed all its length, and ter- 

 minating in a straight, rough awn, situated below the bifid 

 summit ; palea the same length as the flowering glume, awn- 

 less ; anthers oblong, cloven at both ends, delicately fringed, 

 saffron-colour. 



