34 



TIMOTHY, 



signifying cat's tail, the name by which it is still most 

 frequently known in Great Britain. 



Timothy, Heed's Grass {Phleum 

 pratense). Fig. 26. Spikes cylin- 

 drical or elongated; glumes hairy 

 on the back, tipped with a bristle 

 less than half their length; leaves 

 long, flat, rough, with long sheaths ; 

 root perennial, fibrous on moist 

 soils, on dry ones often bulbous. 

 Grows best on damp, peaty soils. 

 Flower Fig. 27. The name of Tim- 

 othy, by which it is more generally 

 known over the country, was ob- 

 tained from Timothy Hanson, who 

 is said to have cultivated it exten- 

 sively, and to have taken the seed 

 from New York to Carolina. Its 

 culture was, according to. some 

 accounts, introduced into Eng- 

 land, from Virginia, by Peter 

 Wynche, about the years 1760 or 

 1761. . 



It is frequently called Herd's 

 grass in New England and New 

 York, and this was the original 

 name under which it "was culti- 

 vated; it was derived 

 from a man of that name, 

 who, according to Jared 

 Eliot, found it growing 

 wild in a swamp in Pis- 

 cataqua, N, H., more 

 Fig. 26. Timothy. Kg- 27. than a century and a 



