24 



at the base. Outer palea awued; the awn rather exceeding, the 

 glumes. 



Gastridium lendigerum^ Gaudin. E. B. ed. 2. 94. Generally 

 adopted by modern British botanists. G. australe, Palisot de 

 Beauvois. Loudon, Hort. Brit. 25; Enqjcl. 56. Milium 

 lendigerum, of older authors. E. B. 1107. Alopecurus 

 ventricosus, Hudson. 



One of the rarer English grasses, and, judging from its very 

 local distribution, rather a naturalized visitant than indigenous. 

 It is generally met with in fields near the sea, and especially in 

 places where water has lain during the winter, or that are occa- 

 sionally overflowed during spring-tides. The Isle of Sheppey and 

 the vicinity of Weymouth are habitats recorded by Lightfoot and 

 Withering ; and the latter author mentions its having been found 

 by Mr. Woodward growing among wheat, at Gillingham, Norfolk. 

 Botanists visiting the sea-side, and desirous of adding this grass to 

 their collections, should examine closely any low marshy spots, 

 however unpromising in aspect, as my earliest acquaintance with 

 it, many years ago, was made at Margate, on the site of the pre- 

 sent railway terminus, a spot over which I have passed, more than 

 once, in a boat in the winter-time. It is possibly less rare than 

 generally considered. Stems from four inches to a foot in height. 

 Leaves rough at the margins; the ligule oblong. Inflorescence 

 varying from one to three inches in length ; neither strictly pani- 

 culate nor spicate, but, even in its smallest form, composed of 

 several apparent spikes compactly arranged upon the common 

 rachis. Flowers glossy. Glumes pecxiliarly ventricose or swelling 

 and colourless at the base, above which they contract rather sud- 

 denly into a somewhat linear-lanceolate form, the outer one espe- 

 cially being acuminate at the extremity ; both of them are more or 

 less finely serrulated. The outer palea terminates abruptly with 

 three or four teeth, and bears a dorsal awn which rises beyond the 

 glumes : the inner one is much smaller, with two teeth only, and 

 awnless. 



Annual ; at least within my own experience of it in the wild 

 state, as well as when cultivated in the garden. Others describe it 

 as perennial, which may, possibly, be its habit in a warmer climate 

 than that of England. 



, Loudon marks it as agricultural, and the abundance and nutritive 

 character of its small seeds have led to its cultivation on some parts 

 of the Continent. Cows and horses eat it. 



