SS8 



GRAMINE^ 



or shortly awncd, enclosing the iruit. ResembHng the Foxtails, 

 but distinguislied from them by the poss,ession of a [>ale. (Name 

 from the Greek plilc/'s, some reed-like plant.) 



1. P. alpliutin (.Mountain Cat's-tail).— ^/c'u solitary, ascending, 

 6— iS in. high ; leaf-slieaihs inflated; //gi(/c short ; spike oblong, 

 purplish, about an inch long ; glumes truncate, with bristly awns 

 as long as the glumes. — Bv streams on lofty Scottish mountains ; 

 rare. — Fl. July. I'erennial- 



2. P. /')a/('/;iY (Timothy grass, Meadow Cat's-tail). — Slem tufted, 

 ascending, smooth, i — 3 feet high ; leaj-s/ieaths not inflated ; 



ligide long ; spike cylindrjc, obtuse, i — 6 in. long, 

 green ; glumes truncate, with bristly a\vns, not 

 half as long as the gli^nies ; anthers yellow or 

 purple. — Meadows; copimon. (Named after 

 Timothy Hanson who! cultivated it in North 

 America.) — Fl. Jum — August. Perennial. 



3. P. phh'iiides (Purple-Stalked Cat's-tail). — 

 Erect, like the Timothy-grass, but usually smaller; 

 outer glumes linear-lanceolate, tapering into a 

 nu'nute, stiff point ; margins white ; (uillici shns^i- 

 oblong. — Dry fields in the eastern counties ; 

 rari^ — Fl. July. Perennial. 



4. P. fl)-f»(;rn/;« (Sea Cat's-tail). — Erect, 2 — 12 

 in. high; leirees broad, with long ligules, the 

 upper ones with inflated^ sheaths ; spike [I — r in. 

 long, cylindiic, tapering at the base, glaucous ; 

 glumes lanceolate, tape'ring into a short point ; 

 anthers minute, yellow. — Sandy coasts ; frecjuent. 

 — Fl. Afay— July. Annual. 



12. JMiin'iKA, of which M. minima (Early Sand- 

 grass) is the only species, is a little tufted plant, 

 2 — 4 in. high ; leaves short, bristly, rough, with 

 sheaths; spikelets 5^^io, minute, sub-sessile, 

 purplish, awnless, dorsally compressed, 'in a i -sided spike, h — i 

 in. long ; flowering glume thin, very hairy, truncate, jagged at top, — 

 Wet sandy shores of Anglesca and the Channel Islands ; rare. — 

 Fl. March, April. .Annual. 



13. Ac.RuS'iis (L!ent). — .V large genus ha\iiig numerous small, 

 i-flowered spikflels in an elegant panicle, with whiirled branches; 

 ouler glumes boat-shaped, unequal, pointed, awnless ; flincering 

 glume shorter, transparent, with a short, slender, dorsal awn, or 

 awnless. (Name, the Greek name for some kind of grass,) 



1. yi. stidcea (iiristle-lcavcd Pent). — Stems erect, rouL;h, about 



I'HLI-.l'.M I'RAT^NSfL 



(ylfci,/,.Tt. Cats-tail). 



white, inflated 



