88 



THE GENERA AND THEIR SPECIES. 



palea stiffly fringed with hairs. All the varieties are useful for 

 hay. B. mollis is common on poor soils, as owing to its shallow 

 root it can do with little food. It used to be sown amongst clover, 

 being recommended for its early growth and large seeds, but is 

 out of favour now. Its seed ripens before the hay harvest, 

 and as it attains a fair size before the autumn, and stands frost 

 well, it ranks as an early grass and is very difficult to get rid of. 

 The grain of B. secalinns has been ground to flout with awkward 

 results, owing to its being narcotic. 



68. B. giganteus. Woods and shady waysides, ranging through 

 Europe and Central Asia. June to August. Root perennial, loosely 

 tufted, fibres long and downy. Stems numerous, erect, smooth, 

 glossy, striated, stout, leafy ; nodes tumid and purple. Leaves 

 flat, narrow, tapering, constricted in middle, flaccid, rough, 



shining below, ribbed, keeled, eared 

 at base, base purple. Sheaths long, 

 striated, smooth, gaping slightly at 

 apex, uppermost longer than leaf ; 

 ligule short, broad, truncate, high on 

 one side. Panicle large, drooping, 

 branches distant ; rachis rough at 

 its angles. Spikelets ovate, smooth, 

 drooping, florets three or more, com- 

 pressed. Outer glume green on back, 

 single-ribbed ; inner glume the larger, 

 lanceolate, pointed, ribs three, edges 

 white. Outer palea ovate-lanceolate, 

 incurved, smooth, base bristly, keel 

 nearly smooth, awn more than twice 

 as long as palea ; inner palea nearly 

 equal to outer and slightly ciliated on the ribs. Styles terminal, 

 ovary, glossy. 



Variety — 

 B. tri flora. Panicle small and erect ; florets three. 

 This grass is now generally placed in Bromns, but it is 

 almost as well known under its older name of Fesiuoa gigantea. 



Bromus giganteus. 

 Spikelet. For Floret see p. 57. 



