234 BRITISH GRASSES. 



in Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, and west- 

 ern Asia. 



B. secalinus, var. velutinus, has large oblong spikelets, 

 the florets of which are more numerous than in the nor- 

 mal form, sometimes amounting to as many as fifteen, 

 all of which are thickly clothed with soft down. It has 

 the same habit as B. secalinus, of expanding its florets 

 when in seed so as to disclose the rachis. 



B. secalinus, var. vulgaris. Pendulous Eye-like Brome- 

 grass. — A graceful variety, with the panicle drooping 

 elegantly to one side; the spikelets expand still more 

 than in the normal form, and the margins of the flower- 

 ing glumes curl in, so as to exhibit the rachis in a striking 

 manner, and give a very light appearance to the spikelet ; 

 the spikelets are very large, and the branches of the 

 rachis drooping. 



9. Bromus mollis, Linn. Soft Brome-grass. 



Root annual, of a few simple fibres ; stems erect, about 

 two feet high, simple, striated, generally smooth ; joints 

 swelling, thickly clothed with hairs ; leaves rather narrow 

 and short, very downy ; sheaths also very downy ; panicle 

 compound, erect, close, two or three inches long, expanding 

 when the flowers open ; rachis and branches downy, the 

 latter in half- whorls and angular ; spikelets nearly upright, 

 ovate, acute, thickened, imbricate ; outer glumes unequal, 

 scaly at the edges, keeled, ribbed, downy ; flowering glume 

 resembling the outer ones, awned ; awns situated a little 

 below the summit of the glumes and about their length, 

 rough ; palese without ribs, membranaceous, the edges thick- 

 ened, green, and fringed. 



This is a common grass in pastures, meadows, and 

 waste places, easily distinguished by its general downi- 



