42 



good hay, and cattle will rarely eat any of them in the growing 

 state, sheep being the only pasturing animals to which they seem 

 at all palatable. 



The generic name is Greek, from the verb airo, to kill or destroy, 

 and was applied to the Bearded Darnel Grass, in allusion to the 

 deleterious effects resulting from the use of its seeds : hence it is 

 altogether meaningless as now bestowed on a family of grasses, the 

 species of which, if not highly nutritive, are at least harmless. 



The genus is in an unsettled state, being considered by some 

 botanists susceptible of division into three or four; but as our 

 indigenous species are few, and the distinctive characters of the 

 alleged genera, perhaps with one exception, very far from definite, 

 they are here more conveniently arranged, under the same name, 

 in two sections. 



* Lower palea truncate, erose at the apex. Fruit free. 

 Deschampsia, Beauvois, and Aira proper. 



AiRA c^spiTOSA. Turfy Hair Grass. Plate XXXVI. 



Panicle spreading; its branches scabrous. Glumes slightly 

 rough on the midvein. Flowers hairy at the base, two, with the 

 rudiment of a third ; or, rarely, one only. Awn straight, arising 

 from below the middle of the lower palea and seldom exceeding it 

 in length. Leaves flat. Ligule acute. 



Aira csespitosa, Linnceus. E. B. 1453 ; ed. 3. 104, Most British 

 botanists. Deschampsia csespitosa, Beauvois. Lindley, Mac- 

 reight. 



This is a common species in moist meadows and woods, and on 

 hill-side pastures where the ground is wet or springy. In such 

 situations it is generally very conspicuous in consequence of forming 

 large tufts that rise above the surrounding vegetation. Under the 

 shade of trees, the stems often rise to the height of three or four 

 feet, but in more exposed habitats average between one and two 

 feet only : they are usually few in number compared with the size 

 of the tufts, slender, erect, and rigid. Leaves long, flat, linear, 

 acuminate, rough, on the sheaths and margins especially. Panicle 

 large, six to ten inches high and about as broad at the lower part ; 

 its branches slender, rough. Spikelets small, silvery-grey or pur- 

 plish. Palese very obtuse, the upper bifid, the lower erose ; the 

 lower with two conspicuous veins on each side of the central one 

 which separates from it a little below the middle, forming the 

 straight, rough dorsal awn. Figure a shows a two-flowered spike- 

 let, with its nearly equal lanceolate glumes, which are rough on the 



