26 



the uppermost of which rise above the inflorescence. The latter is 

 less conspicuous than that of grasses in general, until a short 

 period before the ripening of the seed, when the long, beautifully 

 feathered awns, sometimes a foot in length, make their appearance. 

 Our figures show the structure of the flowers : a, the glumes 

 tapering upwards and terminating in long, flexible, bristle-like 

 points ; b, the flower, its outer palea bearing the base of the awn ; 

 c, the pistil separated from the flower ; d, the awn, attached to the 

 outer palea as at the time of dispersion. The awn is necessarily 

 much shortened, and it is impossible to portray on paper the 

 beauty and silky texture of its plumes. 



Perennial. Flowers in June and July. 



The Feather Grass is common in many of the alpine districts of 

 Southern Europe, whence it was introduced into the gardens of 

 England at a very early period on account of the beautiful append- 

 ages to its fruit, a tuft of which, as remarked by Sir W. J. Hooker, 

 " is almost as beautiful as the famed tail of the Bird of Paradise." 

 Old Gerarde, indeed, informs us that they were worn in his time 

 by "sundry ladies instead of feathers." The elegance of these 

 plumes is, however, even less to be admired than the admirable 

 mechanism of which they constitute an important part. The 

 feathered portion of the awn is bent at an angle of 45°, and capable 

 of being acted upon as a vane when the wind is blowing ; while 

 the base of the fruit (seed), which it terminates, is sharply pointed, 

 so as to insure its hold on the ground in a perpendicular position 

 wherever it may light. Thus situated, every varying breath of air 

 communicates a more or less rotatory movement to the plume, and 

 the necessary deep insertion of the seed is provided for by the 

 screw-like twist of the naked part of the awn rising straight above 

 it, the volutions of which, as they become successively buried, 

 prevent its return to the surface. It is, in fact, thus screwed down 

 into the light soil, in which alone it is capable of vegetating. The 

 size of our plate does not admit of the exhibition of the plume in 

 the position described, but the knee-like bend, the perpendicular 

 screw below it, and the sharply-pointed base of the fruit, are 

 sufficiently explicit of their mechanical capabilities. 



No grasses root more deeply than those belonging to high alpine 

 districts ; a provision that enables their large tufts to resist the 

 fierce action of the winds in their exposed habitats, as well as the 

 temporary rush of the mountain-torrents, which would otherwise 

 uproot and destroy them. 



Since writing the above remarks concerning the alleged former 

 habitat, in Westmoreland, of this curious and beautiful member of 

 the Grass family, I have been assiired that it is still to be met with, 

 occasionally, growing in rock-fissures of the mountain limestone 

 of the wild Pennine district of the county ; a circumstance worthy 



