LoliuVl.] GRAMINE^. 621 



the two allied genera. Tn the arrangement of the florets also Bvachypodiuin dif- 

 fers from Bromus and Festuca just as Lolium and Triticum diflfer in the disposi- 

 tion of theirs. In Bromiis and Festuca the backs of the florets are in the same 

 plane with the chief stalk of the panicle ; in Bvachypodium the edges of the florets 

 are turned towards the main stem as in Triticum, the back of each spikelet being 

 then perpendicular to the stalk. 



1. B. sylvaticum, Beauv. Slender False Brome-grass. " Spike 

 drooping, spikelets solitary nearly cylindrical secund, awns of the 

 upper florets longer than their glumellas, leaves flat flaccid, root 

 fibrous."— 5r. Fl. p. 558. Host. Gram. Aust. i. 17, t. 31. Fes- 

 tuca, E. Fl. V. i. p. 149. Bromus, Poll : E. B. t. 729. 



/3. Spikes nearly erect. i 



Common throughout the island in moist woods, thickets, and on shady hedge- 

 banks, as well as on dry elevated downs and heaths, i*"/. June, July. 2f. 



/3. In open heathy or grassy places, as at Bonchurch, behind Tolt copse, and 

 among the young fir-plantations about the foot of the hill leading up to Hamp- 

 stead farm. This is very diflerent from B. pinnatum, which has not yet been de- 

 tected in this island, though Wablenberg makes our B. sylvaticum a variety of 

 that species. 



The inner palea overlaps and encloses two of the stamens and the ovarium, 

 leaving the scale, which is deeply cloven almost to the base, and the remaining 

 stamen between the valves, free : this third or outer stamen lies in and exactly fills 

 the space left between the inflexed edges of the inner valve. 



/3. " On the downs in various places there is a very deceptive-looking Brachy- 

 podium, which I suppose is a variety of B. sylvaticum, but it has some of the 

 characters of B. pinnatum, such as the erect pinnated spike, cylindrical hairy 

 spikelets (those of B. pinnatum are usually smooth), and almost glabrous leaves, 

 but then the leaves are broad and ihe awns long, which are strong characters of 

 B. sylvaticum. The plant appears to be nearly intermediate between the two."* 

 The above remarks of Mr. Saunders apply to a plant 1 had repeatedly observed 

 in dry, open and hilly places in various parts of the island, and which, like him, 

 I had always considered a variety of B. sylvaticum, difiering merely in its more 

 erect or less drooping spikelets. 



XXXII. Lolium, Linn. Darnel. 



" Spikelets solitary, compressed, approximate, placed edgewise 

 to the rachis, alternate, with 3 or 4 perfect florets. Glumes soli- 

 tary, or 2 and the one next the rachis small ; outer one with seve- 

 ral nerves about as long as or longer than the lowest contiguous 

 floret. Glumellas 2, outer one awnless or awned." — Br. Fl. 



1. L. perenne, L. Perennial Darnel. Rye-grass or Ray-grass. 

 " Spikelets 6 — 8 flowered, glume solitary scarcely longer than the 

 lowest floret, florets lanceolate awnless or nearly so, root pro- 

 ducing leafy barren shoots."— -Br. Fl. p. 558. E. B. t. 315. 

 Host. Gram. Aust. i. 20, t. 25. 



j3. Spikelets branched. 



In meadows, pastures, waste ground, cornfields, and by roadsides; everywhere. 

 Fl. June, July. 2f or $. 



* W. Wilson Saunders, Esq., in litt., July, 1841. 



