BROMUS. 



223 



Either sandy or chalky soil suits the erect Brome- 

 grass ; we are accustomed to see it in sandy corn-fields 

 in Kent, where it grows as a 

 w r eed among the rich crops. 

 Mr. Sinclair describes it as 

 inhabiting similar situations, 

 but Mr. Curtis has always 

 found it in chalky land, so 

 he gives that as its only con- 

 genial soil. 



It is a grass of not un- 

 pleasing appearance : there 

 is a certain stateliness about 

 its upright stem and small 

 panicle, and a quiet sobriety 

 of colouring in the contrast between the purple tinge of 

 the spikelets and the grey green of the rachis, stem, and 

 foliage. Pheasants like the seed, but cattle reject the 

 herbage. It is rare in Scotland and Ireland, but pretty 

 frequent in the eastern and south-eastern counties of 

 England. 



Its foreign homes are Norway, Sweden, Germany, 

 France, and Italy. It is not found in America. 



It flowers late in June, and ripens its seeds in a month. 



Dr. Parnell mentions a hairy variety, the glumes and 

 palese of which are very hirsute ; it grows only on sandy 

 soil. 



2. Bronras asper, Linn. Hairy Brome. 



Root annual or biennial, fibrous ; stem often six feet high, 

 erect, smooth in the upper part, cylindrical ; joints several, 

 small, slightly hairy; leaves spreading, broad, of a full 

 green, ribbed, rough, clothed with long, spreading hairs, all 



