35 



branaceous, either awnless or with an awn of varied length spring- 

 ing from the central vein and from about the middle of its back. 

 Inner palea about half the length of the outer, two- veined only and 

 two-toothed at the summit. The characters of the glumes and 

 pales will be seen in our magnified figures a and b, the latter ex- 

 hibiting the flower in its usually awnless condition. 



Perennial. Flowers in June and to the beginning of August. 



A small variety, occasionally met with on poor sandy soil, not 

 more than two or three inches high, is the Agrostis pumila of Light- 

 foot, Flora Scot. p. 1081, fig. in title-page. To the remark of 

 Withering, that, when cultivated in a garden from seed, this variety 

 assumed the ordinary size and habit of A, fmlgaris, I can testify 

 from my own experience. Mr. Babington observes that it is 

 " usually infested with smut j" a circumstance far from unfrequent, 

 however, with this species in moist or otherwise unfavourable situ- 

 ations. There are, certainly, not any decided varieties of this com- 

 mon grass. It is not one of any agricultural value, unless in per- 

 manent pastures, where the early development of its fohage is, 

 perhaps, of some account, as it is almost exclusively the spring 

 produce of the Bent Grasses which cattle in general will eat. 



Sir W. G. Hooker mentions his possession of " specimens of this 

 species bearing the rudiment of a second flower upon a rather long 

 footstalk, in the same calyx," that is, within the same glumes or 

 spikelet, — a fact indicative of the very arbitrary rules upon which 

 our genera are based. 



Agrostis alba. Marsh Bent Grass. Plates XXXI. & XXXII. 



Panicle loose; its branches and branchlets ascending, hispid. 

 Glumes nearly equal ; the outer one with its keel toothed through- 

 out. Outer palea rarely awned, five-veined ; inner two- or three- 

 veined; both somewhat obtuse and toothed. Ligule long, acute. 



Agrostis alba, Linnaus. E. B. 1189; ed. 2. 99. Generally adopted. 

 A. stolonifera, Linncms. E. B. 1532. Sinclair. Loudon, 

 and others. A. palustris, Sinclair. 



Very common, and even abundant, throughout the. kingdom; 

 chiefly, though not exclusively, in a moist soil and situation, and 

 assuming a variety of aspects, which the earlier botanists regarded 

 and described as so many distinct species. The tendency to spread 

 and creep from the root is far more strikingly evinced in this plant 

 than in the preceding, A. vulgaris, and it is at the same time much 

 stouter and taller, under most circumstances, than that species. 

 Growing in only moderately moist meadows and pastures, or on 

 road-sides, the difference in habit is less remarkable than it is else- 

 where; and a strict attention to the specific characters, as above 



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