68 THE GENERA AND THEIR SPECIES. 



broad, white, thin, hairy on back, edges toothed, apex pointed. 

 Panicle spreading but compact after flowering, branches half- 

 whorled. Spikelets erect, small, numerous, with one floret. 

 Glumes thin, transparent, nearly equal, outer the longer, narrow, 

 not ribbed, bristles along keel. Outer palea thin, ovate, notched, 

 not ribbed, white with tuft of hairs at base ; inner palea half as 

 long as outer palea, notched at apex, transparent. 



Varieties — 

 A. stolonifera 24 in. Ligule long ; panicle contracted. 

 A . vulgaris 24 in. Ligule short ; panicle spreading. 

 A.pumila 4 in. Ligule short and obtuse ; panicle inclined. 



This is mainly known by its variety A . stolonifera, a good 

 fodder grass for moist lands on which it thrives even when floating 

 in water. Its manner of growth has been compared to that of 

 the strawberry, and when it flourishes its roots spread like couch 

 and go five feet deep, though they are of little use to it when 

 drought comes. It is most nutritious when it ripens, and of no 

 use for hay unless haymaking is late. Its long, yellow, grooved 

 seed is small — Sinclair says there are 81,805,680 to the bushel, 

 and that the bushel weighs a quarter of a hundred- weight — and 

 the seedlings grow thickly, thirteen of them to the square inch. 



27. A. canina. Pastures and fields, ranging throughout the 

 Northern Hemisphere between the Tropics and the Arctic circle. 

 June and July. Root perennial, creeping, with trailing leafy shoots, 

 fibres downy. Stem frequently procumbent at first,rooting at nodes, 

 then erect, smooth, slender ; nodes smooth. Leaves of stem narrow, 

 tapering, and toothed, ridges prominent ; radical leaves setiform, 

 that is bristle-shaped, in tufts. Sheaths striated, smooth, colour- 

 less ; ligule longer than broad, white, thin, hairy on back, edges 

 toothed, apex acute. Panicle spreading only in flower ; branches 

 long, angular, rough, slender, brown. Spikelets numerous and 

 pointed. Glumes unequal, long, and pointed, the outer the 

 larger, with a toothed keel. Outer palea ribbed, punctate, 

 toothed at apex, hairy at base, with a jointed incurved awn from 

 below the middle of the keel ; inner palea minute or absent. 



