20 



Phleum Boehmeri. Purple-stalked Cat's-tail Grass. Plate XVI. 



Inflorescence spicate, cylindrical, elongated. Glumes linear- 

 lanceolatej obliquely truncate, mucronate : keel ciliated above. 

 Palese nearly as long as the glumes. 



Phleum Boehmeri, Schrader. E. B. ed 2. 82. Smith. Hooker. 

 Lindley. Babington. Phalaris phleoides, Linnceus. E. B. 459. 

 Chilochloa Boehmeri, Beauvois. Loudon, Hort. Brit. 27; 

 Encycl. 58. 



A local species, being apparently confined to dry sandy and 

 chalky fields in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. Stem decumbent 

 at the base, slightly creeping, erect through its greater length, from 

 a foot to eighteen inches high, simple, very slender, glossy purple, 

 leafless at the upper part. Leaves short, scanty. Flower-spike 

 from tv^o to four inches long, almost strictly cylindrical, slender. 

 The acuminate, linear-lanceolate form of the glumes is due to the 

 obliguity of their termination; the keel is only ciliated about half 

 its length, as shown in the magnified figure a. The palese, see 

 figure b, are proportionally longer than most of the other species 

 of the genus, being nearly equal to the glumes below the point. 

 The rudiment of a second flower accompanies the perfect one. 



Perennial. Flowers in July. 



Phleum Michelii. Michelian Cat's-tail Grass. Plate XVII. 



Inflorescence spicate, subcylindrical. Glumes lanceolate-acu- 

 minate, hairy and strongly ciliated throughout. Palese nearly as 

 long as the glumes, hairy. 



Phleum Michelii, Allioni. E. B. 2365 ; ed. 2. 83. Generally 

 adopted by IBritish botanists. Phalaris alpina, Hcenke. 



Hitherto found only in rocky places on the higher mountains of 

 Clova, Scotland, where it was first discovered as a British Grass by 

 Mr. G. Don. The stems are erect, varying from a few inches to a 

 foot in height, slender and wiry. Leaves rigid, short, scanty. 

 Flower-spike one to two inches or more in length, tapering above. 

 The gradually attenuating form of the glumes, which terminate in 

 a sharp point, contrasts strongly with the abrupt, mucronate cha- 

 racter of those of all the preceding species, and, added to the great 

 comparative length of the palese, will distinguish this from all its 

 British congeners ; see our magnified views. Traces of a second 

 rudimentary flower are occasionally present within the glumes. 



Perennial. Flowers in July and August. The plants have a 

 tendency to form tufts, sending up annually, about the base of the 



