$2 



THE GENERA AND THEIR SPECIES. 



is really a simple raceme with very short pedicels. The two 

 British species, B. sylvaticum with nodding racemes, and B. 

 pinnatum with upright racemes, are of very wide distribution. 

 B. sylvaticum attains a considerable height, clambering among 

 bushes, flourishing in the shade, but when not helped in this way 

 out in the open, and particularly in stony places near the sea, it is 

 much shorter. It is of solitary growth, and remains green during 

 the winter. Cattle, sheep, and horses do not touch it, but deer 

 seem to have no objection to it — when they can get little else. 

 Its leaves are reversed at the base, so that the upper side is 

 really the under side. 



61. B. pinnatum. Heaths in the chalky districts of Europe, 

 and in Central Asia. July and August. Root perennial, scaly, 

 slightly creeping. Stem erect, rigid, unbranched, smooth, leafy ; 

 nodes four, hairy. Leaves tapering at base, lanceolate, pointed, 

 ascending, hairy, ribs low, midrib prominent. Sheaths glossy, 

 smooth, lower with drooping hairs ; ligule short, blunt, hairy. 

 Spike erect, smooth, alternate. Spikelet nearly sessile, erect, 

 florets seven or more ; rachis rough, smoothly grooved. Glumes 

 unequal, oval, ribbed, awned, edges next to rachis. Outer palea 

 broad, longer than outer glume, ribs five, awn short ; inner 

 palea shorter than outer, upper half with two green ribs, 

 edges inflexed. 



Briza. Plate xxv. FESTUCE/E. 



77. media 15 in. Quake Grass. Stem smooth; ligule 



short. 



78. minor 12 in. Lesser Quake Grass. Stem rough ; 



ligule long. 



77. B. media Downs and pastures, ranging through 

 Europe and Russian Asia. June and July. Root perennial, 

 fibres thick and branched, slightly creeping. Stem erect, round, 

 slender, smooth, striated, glossy. Leaves erect, linear, flat, acute, 

 roughish above, margins rough. Sheaths ribbed, long, but shorter 



