are disinclined to part with a species, especially a rare one, and 

 artist and author have here done their best to uphold its claim, 

 which, however, the latter regards, at best, equivocal. 



ALOPECURtrs GENicuLATUs. Floating Fox-tail Grass. Plate VIII. 



Stem ascending, bent at the joints, smooth. Inflorescence spicate, 

 cylindrical, obtuse. Glumes united at the base, obtuse, downy, 

 ciliated, rather longer than the palea. Awn from near the base of 

 the palea, and twice as long. Anthers linear. 



Alopecurus geniculatus, Linncms. E. B. 1350 ; ed. 2. 89. Gene- 

 rally adopted. 



A common species in watery situations, by the sides of ditches 

 and ponds, the surfaces of which are often covered by its branched 

 floating stems : occasionally it is met with in dry places, or rather 

 on ground which, though dry during the summer, is liable to be- 

 come marshy or even overflowed in wet seasons ; more rarely, 

 specimens of stunted growth occur on old walls and in other un- 

 likely habitats, in which case the bases of the stems assume the 

 bulb-like character of those of A. hulbosus. Stems about a foot or 

 eighteen inches long, branching below, decumbent when not float- 

 ing, the flowering extremity only erect ; more or less sharply bent 

 at the joints, and especially at the uppermost, whence the specific 

 name, and its occasional English one of Kneed Water-Grass. 

 Leaves variable in length, the sheath of the upper one inflated, as 

 in the species of this genus generally. Ligule oblong. Spike one 

 to two inches long, not attenuated above. Glumes united at the 

 base, but often so slightly as to appear, at first sight, separate. 

 Palea oblong, obtuse, slightly notched at the extremity, its awn 

 arising from above the base and extending to twice its length. 

 Anthers purple or violet, changing to dull yellow or rust-colour. 



Perennial. Flowers from June to August. 



A. geniculatus is a plant of variable character, as is frequently 

 the case with others of aquatic habit ; and, whether the preceding, 

 A. bulboms, be a distinct species or not, there is certainly a tendency 

 in this to assume one of its most striking peculiarities, the thick- 

 ening of the lower nodes of the stem. Most of the grazing animals 

 devour this grass with avidity. 



Alopecurus fulvus. Orange-spiked Water Fox- tail Grass. 

 Plate IX. 



Stem ascending, bent at the joints, smooth. Inflorescence 

 spicate, cylindrical, tapering ab9ve. Glumes united at the base, 

 obtuse, downy, ciliated, not longer than the palea. Awn from the 



