THE GENERA AND THEIR SPECIES. 85 



Variety — 

 B. villosus. Outer palea hairy. 



The Upright Brome yields a fair amount of hay on chalky 

 soils, but the greyish green radical leaves being long make it 

 appear to give more herbage than is really the case. Its leaves 

 come late, but the flowers are early. Cattle do not like it owing 

 to its roughness. Its near ally, the introduced B. inermis, is a 

 much more profitable grass, especially in dry climates. 



63. B. asper. Woods and shady lanes, ranging through 

 Europe and Northern Asia. July and August. Root annual or 

 perennial, fibres thick and spreading. Stem tall, erect, smooth 

 above, leafy ; nodes numerous, rather hairy. Leaves taper- 

 ing from base, auricled, constricted in middle, flat, thick, 

 pointed, ribbed, hairs long and spreading, upper leaves 

 narrow, deep green, keel white ; lower leaves drooping. 

 Sheaths almost entire, ribbed, rough, hairs long and deflexed, 

 keel, a white line ; ligule short and blunt. Panicle drooping, 

 large, loose, rough, branches in pairs, a scale at their base. Spike- 

 lets an inch long, obliquely pendulous, compressed, florets four 

 or more, purple. Glumes unequal, outer the shorter, with one 

 rib, inner with three ribs, dorsal rib toothed, margins hairy. 

 Outer palea longer than glumes, margins hairy, ribs five to seven, 

 awned from just below bifid apex ; inner palea shorter than outer, 

 glabrous, keel fringed, margins inflexed. Stigmas not terminal. 



64. B. sterilis. Sandy fields and waste places, ranging 

 through Europe and Russian Asia. June to August. Root 

 annual or biennial, small, creeping, fibres capillary. Stem 

 erect from a curved or geniculate base, rough, striated, rooting 

 from lower nodes, leafy above. Leaves linear, flat, spreading, 

 ribbed, flaccid, downy, edges hairy. Sheaths almost entire, 

 ribbed, angular, hairs deflexed, uppermost as long as leaf ; ligule 

 square and torn. Panicle nearly simple, loose, drooping, lower 

 branches long and in pairs. Spikelets an inch or more long, 

 lanceolate, rough, pendulous, florets six or more, purplish brown, 

 Outer glume ribless, keel toothed on upper half ; inner glume 

 the larger, angular, ribs three, Outer palea slightly incurved, 



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