43 



keel ; b, a separate flower with a few hairs at the base, the charac- 

 ters of the palese and the awn. 



Perennial. Flowers from July to September. 



The general aspect and certain secondary characters of the species 

 are liable to vary in mountainous habitats, and two of the forms 

 thus induced are distinguished by name. 



^. brevifolia, Parnell. This has the radical leaves short, with 

 smooth sheaths ; the panicle small ; the awn about the length of 

 the flower. 



7. longiaristata, Parnell. Awn one-third longer than the flower. 

 Occasionally this has only one fertile flower in each spikelet. 



Another form found in corresponding situations to the two pre- 

 ceding is the viviparous j in which the flowers instead of producing 

 fruit or seed develope buds, that, beginning to vegetate upon the 

 panicle, eventually drop ofi", and rooting where they fall, multiply 

 the species. This is not an uncommon circumstance among alpine 

 grasses, an example or two of which we shall take occasion to figure 

 in the course of our work. The viviparous forms are retained for 

 years under cultivation in the garden ; but I have not found this 

 to be the case with the other varieties of the species before us ; 

 they have gradually merged into the ordinary condition of the 

 lowland plant. All these varieties are liable to be mistaken by an 

 inexperienced collector for the following species, A. alpina, and I 

 fear that the assumed difi^rent position and character of the awn 

 will not readily determine the question. 



The Turfy Hair Grass is a troublesome weed in marshy meadows, 

 where its tufts occasion little hillocks which interrupt the sweep 

 of the scythe and blunt its edge ; while no feature is more indica,- 

 tive of neglect or carelessness on the part of the farmer, or gives 

 a more slovenly appearance to his land, than the accumulation of 

 Tussocks, Hassocks, Rough-caps, or BulPs-faces, as they are 

 variously termed in provincial dialect. Pigs seem to be the only 

 animals that eat this grass with any relish, though it is occa- 

 sionally cropped by cows when the pasture is overstocked. By 

 horses it is rarely, if ever, touched, and sheep never take it while 

 better food is to be had. The harshness and strong flavour of the 

 abundant foliage will account for this almost universal dislike, in 

 the absence of analysis to determine its want of nutritive prin- 

 ciples as compared with other grasses. Of course a plant so cir- 

 cumstanced must always be regarded, in an economical point of 

 view, as occupying space which might be more advantageously 

 employed. In well-drained land it rarely intrudes ; but when once 

 it obtains a place in the permanent pasture, the sooner it is 

 destroyed by paring up and burning the tussocks the better. 



In the economy of Nature, these tufts, so unsightly and dis- 

 figuring to the cultivated landscape, are valuable, by contributing 



G 2 



