232 



BRITISH GRASSES. 



smooth ; ligule short, purplish, clasping the stem ; panicle 

 elongated, branched, drooping, of many spikelets, compound; 

 rachis rough; branches rough and compound; spikelets 

 ovate, lanceolate, smooth, drooping, containing from three 

 to six florets, small ; outer glumes unequal, the lowest with 

 one rib, the upper with three, both pointed and smooth ; 

 flowering glumes ovate-lanceolate, smooth, scarcely keeled, 

 awned ; awn on, or a little below the apex of glume, more 

 than twice its length, very slender, white, and sometimes 

 bent ; ovary glossy. 



This is one of the most elegant of the Brome-grasses, 

 vying with the Hairy and Barren species in its drooping 

 panicle, and greatly exceeding them in the beauty of its 



foliage, its long verdant rib- 

 bon-like leaves being remark- 

 ably elegant. It is often to 

 be seen in the grove or 

 hedgebank, sheltering itself 

 from the rough winds amid 

 the branches of the bushes, 

 and bending forwards its 

 graceful panicles and green 

 pennons at will. 



The number of florets in 

 the delicate spikelets is va- 

 riable; many authors have 

 created a second species of 

 such specimens as they have 

 found with only three blooms 

 in the spikelet, but this is 

 not a reliable distinction. Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, and 

 Kent, are the counties assigned to this species by Sir 

 J. E. Smith; and we can testify to its presence in the 



