ground, as well as in corn-fields, where, indeed, it is one of the most 

 troublesome weeds. In pastures it rarely intrudes, unless in a 

 poor and dry soil, and cattle generally leave it untouched. Stems 

 slender, from a foot to a foot and a half in height. Leaf-sheaths 

 rough. Ligule obtuse. Spike from two to four inches long, 

 slender and acuminated, frequently of a purplish hue. The com- 

 pressed glumes, connected nearly half their length, are smooth 

 except on the keel or mid-vein, which is ciliated with short hairs. 

 The awn is occasionally three times the length of the palea. The 

 references to the magnified views of the flowers accord with those 

 of A. pratensis. 



Annual. Flowers from May to Octpber. 



Alopecurus bulbosus. Tuberous Fox-tail Grass. Plate VII. 



Stem decumbent at the lower part, smooth. Inflorescence 

 Fpicate, cylindrical, acuminate. Glumes linear, abruptly pointed, 

 downy, separate, much longer than the palea. Awn arising above 

 the base of the palea, about twice as long. 



Alopecurus bulbosus, Linnceus. E. B. 1249 ; ed. 2. 88. Generally 

 adopted by modern botanists. A. geniculatus bulbosus ?, 

 Hudson. 



This species is rare, and apparently confined to the southern 

 parts of our island, where it has hitherto been found only in a few 

 localities. Salt or brackish marshes, near the sea or the estuaries 

 of tidal rivers, are its natural habitats, as near Yarmouth, Wey- 

 mouth, and in Cardifi' marshes, Wales ; Hudson mentions having 

 found it near Northfleet, Kent; and, in June 1840, I met with 

 several plants of it in a meadow on the Thames side, a little above 

 Erith. Shoots tufted, not creeping, the lowermost joints thickening 

 into bulb-like tubers. , Stems six inches to a foot in length, nearly 

 erect above, but bent in a kneed manner at the first or second 

 joint from the ground. Upper leaf-sheaths inflated. Ligvile ob- 

 long. Spike an inch to an inch and a half long, dark, rather 

 glaucous-green : the very short pedicels, which in other species of 

 the genus render the apparent spike truly a raceme, in this in- 

 stance often bear a second, but always abortive flower. The com- 

 plete separation of the glumes is shown at figure a ; the form of 

 the palea in situ and insertion of the awn at b • but the former, 

 when spread out, terminates abruptly with a notch at the ex- 

 tremity and two minute teeth. Anthers blue or purple. 

 Perennial. Flowers in June and July. 



The earlier English botanists seem to have doubted the distinct- 

 ness of this from the next species, and comparison renders their 

 scepticism far from being unfounded ; our modern fellow-students 



