THE CxENERA AND THEIR SPECIES. 



8r 



the aftermath is profitable. It thrives among Meadow Barley, 

 Crested Dog's-tail, and Vernal Grass, particularly where there is 

 no shelter, but is a failure when tried by itself. The seed is pale 

 brownish yellow, very small and light, difficult to obtain pure, 

 and germinates badly except when sown in autumn. 



Brachypodium. Plate xix. FESTUCEM. 



60. sylvaticum 24 in. Slender False Brome. Spikelets 



generally drooping ; leaves flaccid and 

 drooping ; ligule longer than broad. 



61. pinnatum 24 in. Heath False Brome. Spikelets generally 



erect ; leaves firm and erect ; ligule 

 broader than long. 



60. B. sylvaticum. Shady thickets and woods of Europe and 

 Central Asia. June and July. Root perennial, fibrous, tufted. 

 Stem slender, tapering, unbranched, leafy, arching ; nodes four, 

 hairy. Leaves reversed and tapering at base, flat, broadly linear, 

 pointed, ribbed, hairy, rough, flaccid. Sheaths close, ribbed, 

 hairs deflexed, uppermost shorter than leaf ; ligule longer than 

 broad, triangular, apex toothed. 

 Spike loose, drooping ; rachis wavy, 

 not notched. Spikelet nearly sessile, 

 an inch in length, cylindrical, slender, 

 alternate, more or less unilateral, 

 distant ; florets eight or more. Glumes 

 unequal, ribbed, lanceolate, downy, 

 shorter than paleae, pointed or awned, 

 edges next to rachis. Outer palea 

 ribbed, hairy, narrow, apex awned, 

 awn longer than palea ; inner palea 

 blunt, fringed, overlapping two sta- 

 mens and the ovary, and leaving the 

 third stamen free. 



The inflorescence of Brachy- 

 podium, spike-like though it appears, 



Brachypodium sylvaticum. 

 Spikelet. For Floret see p. 58. 



