mutton must have owed its " excellence " to other sources. They 

 seemj however, to have had considerable influence on the opinions 

 of the earlier agricultural systematizers of this country, and the 

 Sweet-scented Vernal Grass always holds a place among the species 

 recommended by them for the production of improved meadow-land. 

 The scantiness of the foliage is very much against its value as an 

 economical grass, it yields little to the scythe, while in permanent 

 pastures it occupies the place of others more nutritious and better 

 liked by cattle generally. Whether its wide distribution among 

 the latter, in almost all soils and situations, may not be pro- 

 ductive of some wholesome medicinal effect, on the more promis- 

 cuously feeding grazing animals, is a question perhaps deserving 

 consideration ; the more so, that certain tropical grasses, celebrated 

 on account of their fragrance, have long been employed in their 

 respective countries with a view to the benefit derived from their 

 tonic, stomachic, and other qualities. 



Flowers from the beginning of May to July. Perennial. 



Genus 2. NARDUS. Mat-Grass. 



Gen. Char. Spikelets forming two rows , on one side of the 

 common stalk or rachis, in the hollows of which they are 

 sessile j without glumes, 1-flowered. Palese two, the outer one 

 longer. Style and stigma solitary, the latter filiform. 



The single British species of this small genus is at once 

 distinguishable from the rest of our indigenous grasses by its 

 solitary style and stigma, as Anthoxanthum is by its two stamens. 

 Neither the botanical nor the English name is at all applicable to 

 the qualities or uses of the rigid, wiry, slender and scentless plants 

 of which it is constituted; the Greek word nardos, especially, being 

 applied to an odoriferous shrub, is very inappropriate to a grass 

 destitute of odour. 



Nardus steicta. Small Matweed. Mat-grass. Plate II. 



Stems and leaves erect, very slender, rigid. Spike compact. 

 Outer palea twice the length of the inner. 



Nardus stricta, lAnnaus. E. B. 290 ; ed. 2. 75. Generally 

 adopted. 



Generally abundant on moors and heaths throughout the 

 kingdom, likewise on sandy pastures in places where moisture 

 collects during the winter. Each plant forms a dense tuft, con- 

 sisting of nearly erect, very slender, smooth, bristle-like leaves. 

 The flowering stems vary from four to eight inches in height, each 

 with a single node or joint near the base from which a leaf pro- 



3 B 



