THE GENERA AND THEIR SPECIES. 



113 



rangular, not split in front, uppermost shorter than leaf ; 

 ligule short, blunt, with one awl-shaped lobe opposite the blade. 

 Panicle curving, branches in pairs, few, rough, slender. Spikelets 

 erect, ovate, tremulous, with one perfect floret and one barren 

 floret. Glumes unequal, inner the larger, smooth, reddish brown . 

 Outer palea as long as inner glume, broad, blunt, smooth ; inner 

 palea shorter than outer, broad, oval, edged with green. 



Mibora. Plate viii. AGROSTIDE/E. 



22. verna 4 in. Knappia. Panicle short, slender and 



racemose. 

 Sandy fields near the sea ; Channel Islands and Anglesey, 

 ranging through Southern and Western Europe. March and 

 April. Root annual, small, fibres long and slender. Stems 

 numerous, erect, slender, smooth, triangular, with one or two 

 leaves. Leaves flat, linear, short, 

 obtuse, channelled and rough. 

 Sheaths thin, smooth, compressed, 

 uppermost longer than leaf ; ligule 

 membranous, obtuse, notched, 

 clasping stem. Spikes erect, simple, 

 slender. Spikelets erect, alternate, 

 sessile, one floret; rachis slender, 

 smooth, angular, but not notched. 

 Glumes equal, erect, smooth, ob- 

 tuse, green and purple. Outer 

 palea shorter than glumes, thin, 

 jagged, and hairy ; inner palea small 

 and hairy or absent. Filament twice as long as outer palea, 

 Anthers broader at base than at apex. 



This very small and early annual which is generally 

 withered up before Midsummer, averages about a couple of 

 inches in height, and with its trifling foliage and slender 

 thread-like stems, is so inconspicuous that it may not be as 

 rare as it is reputed to be. It is better known as Knappia 

 than by the older name it now bears which was given it by 

 Beauvois. 



Mibora verna. 

 Spikelet. For Floret see p. 45. 



