101 



No two-nerved pale a or lodlcules. 

 Stamens three. 

 Styles distinct. 



Grain enclosed in the scarcely hardened glumes, but free from 

 them. 



2. Alopecurus geniculatus, Linn. 



Botanical name. — Alopecurus, from the Latin Alopecurus (indirectly 

 from the Greek), signifying a plant like a fox-tail; geniculatus, Latin, 

 knotty and jointed (like a knee). 



Vernacular names. — "Knee-jointed Fox-tail Grass/' because it is 

 bent at the joints ; "Water or Floating Fox-tail Grass " ; the " Com- 

 mon Fox-tail " of England. 



Where figured. — Buchanan, Sowerby, Agricultural Gazette. 



Botanical description (B. Fl., vii, 555). — A perennial or sometimes 

 annual only, glabrous except the spike. 



Stems usually procumbent at the base, bending upwards at the lower nodes, some- 

 times only 3 or 4 inches, often 1 foot high or more. 



Leaves narrow, the upper sheaths broad and loose. 



Spike 1 to 2 inches long, closely imbricate but slender. 



Outer glumes hairy on the keel, scarcely pointed, usually but little more than 1 line 

 long, free or scarcely united at the base, the hair-like awn of the flowering- 

 glume not projecting above 1 line beyond them. 



Value as a fodder. — Perennial fodder-grass, valuable for swampy or 

 moist ground. Stock eat it readily enough with other grasses, but 

 whether it is nutritious or not in Australia we can only make inferences. 



Bailey alludes to it in these terms : " This rather weak grass is 

 valuable as producing, on the South-western Downs, a quantity of 

 herbage during the winter when many other grasses are at a stand- 

 still." 



It should be well-known in Europe, but the testimonies of eminent 

 British authorities in regard to it are contradictory, as the following" 

 extracts will show : — 



"It is an extremely valuable pasture-grass, being relished by all 

 cattle, and yielding a good crop of stems and foliage, and on stiff soils 

 is perhaps the most reproductive of all our native (English) species, 

 but is perhaps not so well adapted for hay as for pasture on account 

 of the stems being few." (Sowerby.) 



"It does not appear to be eaten with much relish by either cows, 

 horses, or sheep. Its nutritive powers are not considerable, and its 

 sub-aquatic natural place of growth excludes any recommendation of 

 it for cultivation. (Sinclair, Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis .) 



As regards the United States, Vasey reports : " It seldom reaches 

 more than a foot in height. It is of no value for cultivation, being 

 useful only for the amount of grass it may contribute to the wild 

 forage of the place in which it grows." 



Fungus recorded on this grass. — Sclerospora macrospora, Sacc, has 

 been recorded on the leaves of an Alopecurus. 



Habitat and range. — It is usually found near shallow lagoons and 

 water-courses, often actually floating in water. It is found in all the 



