27 



the notice of enthusiastic collectors of our botanical rarities. It 

 may be farther stated, that my informant, a native of the county, 

 communicated the localities, more than one, in which he had him- 

 self found it ; but the pleasure of research is always enhanced by 

 the uncertainty attending its results ; and, having a fellow-feeling 

 with my friend and late pupil, against the obliteration of rare 

 species, which has too often followed the publication of their little 

 nooks and corners of refuge, they must here remain untold, and 

 my kind readers rest content with a scrap of advice that no 

 naturalist would be justified in spurning — " Search, and ye may 

 find." 



Genus 12. POLYPOGON. Beard Grass. 



Gen. Char. Inflorescence more or less compact. Spikelets 

 laterally compressed, one-flowered. Glumes two, equal, each 

 with a long bristle-like awn arising from a little below the 

 notched apex, longer than the flower. Palese two, unequal ; 

 the lower one obtuse, awned from the apex or immediately 

 below. 



A small genus of Grasses, characterized by some peculiarity in 

 habit and, especially, by the bristly appendages of its inflorescence, 

 whence originated the name, bestowed by Desfontaines, from the 

 Greek poly, many or much, and pogon, beard. 



The species do not appear to be of any economical value. Those 

 of British growth, confined, almost exclusively, to maritime marshes 

 in the south-eastern parts of England, cannot be regarded as indi- 

 genous, though the dates of their introduction by natural causes 

 may be far from recent. Both of them may be considered as 

 belonging to our botanical rarities. 



PoLYPOGON MONSPELiENSis. Annual Beard Grass. Plate XXIII. 



Inflorescence dense, scarcely spieate, lobed. Glumes rather 

 obtuse, rough ; their awns thrice their length. 



Polypogon monspeliensis, Desfontaines. E. B. ed. 2. 91. Gene- 

 rally adopted by modern British botanists. Agrostis panicea, 

 E. B. 1704. Phleum crinitum. Smith, Fl. Brit. Alopecurus 

 monspeliensis, Linncms. 



Found in moist pastures, chiefly near the sea or the estuaries of 

 rivers, as on the coasts of Hampshire and Essex, about Cley in 

 Norfolk, near Woolwich and Northfleet on the Thames, and at 

 Inverkeithing, Fifeshire. Stems about a foot in height. Leaves 

 few, rough on the edges. Inflorescence varying in length and 



E 2 



