THE GENERA AND THETR SPECIES. 



1 19 



8. P. crus-galli. Fields ; south of England, a native of 

 warm climates. July and August. Roots annual, fibrous. 

 Stems numerous, decumbent, then erect, stout, smooth, 

 furrowed ; nodes bare. Leaves broad, pointed, rough, midrib 

 prominent. Sheath swollen ; ligule represented by hairs or a 

 white mark. Spike compound, dense, unilateral, branches 

 tapering. Spikelets clustered, ovate, dorsally compressed, purple 

 on one side, hairs long and smooth, one floret. Glumes 

 three, one small, the others equal, the second being hairy 

 and the third awned. Outer palea transparent, smooth, glossy, 

 awnless ; inner palea small and glossy. Stamens long. 



Cockspur is readily distinguishable by the tufted bristles 

 among the spikelets. In some parts it is cultivated for fodder, 

 though with us it is a coarse grass, best known as a weed in corn- 

 fields. It is the tallest British representative of the genus, but 

 quite a dwarf compared with Pant cum altissimum, which in the 

 West Indies reaches thirty feet in height. 



Phalaris. Plate iv. PHALARIDEJE. 



ii. canaviensis 36 in. Canary Grass. Spike ovoid ; spikelets 



imbricated. 

 Fields and waste places, ranging through Southern Europe and 

 Northern Africa. June to August. Root annual, fibres white 

 and numerous. Stem erect, 

 round, leafy, brown at nodes. 

 Leaves broad, acute, spreading, 

 glaucous. Sheaths long, round, 

 tumid, rough, uppermost form- 

 ing a spathe ; ligule long and 

 blunt. Spike ovoid, variegated 

 green and white. Spikelets 

 with one floret, broad and flat, 

 imbricated. Glumes four, lower 

 pair nearly equal, winged, flat, 

 keeled, and pointed. Paleae hard 

 and glossy. Outer palea shorter 



. Phalaris canariensis. 



than glumes, Ovate, pointed, Spikelet, For Floret see p. 62. 



