FLOATING AND WILD WATER FOXTAIL. 33 



projects beyond the pales. In Figs. 22 and 23 the 

 flowers are seen. It is distinguished from meadow fox- 

 tail by its slender panicle, its larger spikelets, its larger 

 ligule, and the roughness of the stem and leaves. It 

 possesses no particular agricultural value. Flowers in 

 July. Annual. Native of Great Britain. 



Floating Foxtail {Alopecurus geniculatus) has a 

 stem ascending, bent, and forming knees at the lower 

 joints, as shown in Fig. 24; awn projecting beyond the 

 palea, Fig. 25, which is rather shorter than the obtuse 

 glumes ; anthers linear, upper leaf as long as its sheath ; 

 root perennial, fibrous ; joints smooth, long, and narrow, 

 of a purple tinge ; leaves flat, sharp, roughish on both 

 sides, serrated on the edge. Inflorescence simple pan- 

 icled ; spikelets numerous, compressed, erect, with a 

 one-awned floret as large as the calyx. Floret of one 

 palea, awn slender. Found in moist meadows, ditches, 

 ponds, and slow streams, floating on the water. It is 

 distinguished from meadow foxtail in having the upper 

 sheath about the length of its leaf, and by the project- 

 ing awn, while in the meadow foxtail the upper sheath 

 is more than twice the length of -its leaf. Flowers in 

 May and June. 



It is a grass not much relished by stock of any kind, 

 while it yields but a small amount of herbage. 



The Wild Water Foxtail (Alopecurus aristulatus) 

 also grows in wet meadows, but is of no special agri- 

 cultural value. Native of Great Britain. 



4. Phleum. Cat's-Tail. 



Panicle spiked, spikelets compressed, palea shorter 

 than the awned glumes, the lower one truncate, usually 

 awnless ; styles distinct, filaments hairy, spike dense, 

 rough, or harsh. So called from an ancient Greek term 



