COUCH GRASS. 115 



no means so marked ; the former dried at 212' Fahren- 

 heit containing 10.10 per cent, of flesh-forming princi- 

 ples, the latter 11.36; the former containing 3.27 per 

 cent, of fatty matter, the latter 3.55 ; the former con- 

 taining 57.82 per cent, of heat-forming principles, the 

 latter 53.35. 



There are 432,000 seeds in a pound of Italian rye 

 grass, and from thirteen to eighteen pounds in a bushel. 



The Bearded Darnel (Lolium temulentum), Fig. 88, 

 is sometimes found in our grain-fields, with its glume 

 equalling the five to seven flowered spikelets, and awn 

 longer than the flower. Its grain is poisonous — almost 

 the only instance known among the grasses. 



The Mant-flowered Darnel {Lolium midtiflorum) is, 

 perhaps, the most showy species of rye grass culti- 

 vated. It is but very rarely, if ever, met with here, 

 though it was introduced from France to England about 

 thirty years ago, and is there cultivated to some extent. 

 Fig. 89 shows the appearance of this grass, and Fig. 90 

 a magnified spikelet. It is very nearly allied to, if not 

 identical with, Italian rye grass. 



43. Triticum. Wheat. 



Spikelets three to several flowered, compressed, with 

 the flat side toward the rachis ; glumes nearly equal 

 and opposite, nerved ; lower palea like the glumes, con- 

 vex on the back, awned from the tip, upper flattened ; 

 stamens three ; mostly annuals, but others are peren- 

 nials, to which the couch grass belongs. 



Couch Grass, Quitch Grass, Twitch Grass, Dog 

 Grass, Chandler Grass, &c. ( Triticum repens), seen in 

 Fig 91, with its roots creeping extensively; stem erect, 

 round, smooth, from one to two or two and a half feet 

 high, striated, having five or six flat leaves, with smooth, 



