THE GENERA AND THEIR SPECIES. 



121 



palea smaller than glumes, ovate, five-ribbed, pointed, awnless ; 

 inner palea shorter than outer, with two nerves, pointed, fringed. 

 Styles and stamens protruding ; anthers flesh colour and rather 

 long. 



Timothy is one of our native grasses, but owes its name to 

 Timothy Hanson, by whom it 

 was first cultivated largely in 

 the United States, and thence 

 introduced at his recommenda- 

 tion into British pastures. In 

 America it attains six feet in 

 height, here the conditions are 

 not so favourable to it, and it is 

 shorter, harder, and coarser, not 

 a favourite with cattle, though 

 making excellent heavy hay. 

 Its first crop is good, but its 

 aftermath is poor. Moist tena- 

 cious soils suit it best ; in dry 

 soils it becomes bulbous. It is 



at its best in its second year, and when cut soon after flower- 

 ing. Sinclair found that the seed weighed 43 pounds to the bushel, 

 and calculated that each bushel contained 35 million seeds. 

 The seeds are naked, ovoid, twice as long as broad, lightly pitted, 

 and yellowish brown in colour. They seldom fail to germinate, 

 but the crop requires a good deal of nitrogenous manure to keep 

 it up to the mark in this country. 



Phleum p miens c. 

 Spikelet. For Floret see p. 44. 



Variety — 

 P. nodosum 24 in. Decumbent, leaves narrow, spike slender. 



14. P. alpinum. Mountains, chiefly Scottish, ranging 

 throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also found in Southern 

 Chile. July and August. Root perennial, rather tuberous 

 and creeping. Stem ascending, simple, smooth, round. Leaves 

 flat, acute, smooth, ribs equal, edges rough. Sheaths smooth, 

 tumid, striated, uppermost long ; ligule short and obtuse. Spike 



