io6 THE GENERA AND THEIR SPECIES. 



than palea ; inner palea smaller than outer, ovate-lanceolate 

 with two green ribs, edges inflexed, bristle at base. 



Variety — 

 H. arcnavium 18 in. Base of stem buried and rooting. 

 This is really the Mouse Barley (from its hairy spikelets), 

 the muvinum coming from mus and not from murus. It is of 

 little agricultural value, but is more nutritive in seed than in 

 flower, unlike all other annual grasses. Its long awns make it 

 dangerous for horses, hence it is useless for hay, and as a matter of 

 fact it avoids pasture and thrives on building plots, not on the 

 walls but where the walls are coming. 



55. H. maritimum. Seaside of the East and South of England, 

 and ranging from the Mediterranean into Western Europe. June to 

 August. Root annual, a tuft of whitish, flattened, wrinkled fibres. 

 Stems numerous, decumbent, geniculate, widely spreading, terminal 

 portion erect ; nodes smooth. Leaves auricled, narrow, short, 

 downy above, hairy below, tapering from base, strongly ribbed 

 on upper surface, glaucous. Sheaths ribbed, smooth, uppermost 

 inflated and longer than leaf ; ligule short and truncate. Spike 

 ovoid, rather broad, short, dense, uniform ; rachis notched. 

 Spikelets clustered in threes in the notches, middle spikelet with 

 one floret perfect, outer spikelet with one floret imperfect. Glumes 

 bristle shaped, rough, awned, not ciliated. Outer palea smooth, 

 lanceolate, five-ribbed, awned ; inner palea semi-ovate, with two 

 central green ribs, inflexed and partly embracing the ovary. 



Koeleria. Plate xxxiii. FESTUCE/E. 



99. cristate 15 in. Crested Koeleria. Spike silvery, with 

 a break near the base. 

 Upland and coastal pastures ; ranging through Central and 

 Southern Europe. June and July. Root perennial, creeping, 

 slightly tufted, fibres long and downy. Stems numerous, genicu- 

 late, ascending, slender, downy above ; nodes near base only. 

 Radical leaves tufted, stiff, narrow, tapering ; stem leaves taper- 

 ing at base, broad, stout, pointed, two or three only, uppermost 



