47 



separated from their assumed congenersj by a feature of far greater 

 importance than the relative dimensions of a glume or palea or the 

 twisting or insertion of an awn ; namely the hardening of the 

 palese around the ripening fruit, a character involving physiological, 

 not mere accidental, difference in development. The reference of 

 our Silvery and Early Hair Grasses to Avena, the Oat family, on 

 this consideration, is scarcely consistent with other circumstances ; 

 but the gepera of the grasses are at present, almost throughout, 

 highly unsatisfactory: to revise and establish them on a firmer 

 foundation would be the labour of a hfe — our work must float 

 with the tide. 



Genus 18. CORYNEPHORUS. Club Grass. 



Gen. Char. Inflorescence paniculate, more or less dense. Spike- 

 lets stalked, two-flowered. Glumes two, nearly equal, longer 

 than the flowers. Palese two, membranaceous ; the lower one 

 entire, awned above the base. Awn straight ; jointed in the 

 middle, with a tuft of hairs at the joint ; club-shaped above. 



This genus was separated from Aira by Palisot de Beauvois, in 

 consequence of the peculiar structure of the awn in A. canescens 

 of Linnseus, for which see our magnified view of the flower in 

 Plate XLI. 



The name is from the Greek koryne, a club, and phoreo, to bear ; 

 in allusion to the club-like extremity of the awn. 



CoBYNEPHORUS CANESCENS. Grey Club Grass. Plate XLI. 



Panicle rather compact than spreading. Glumes longer than 

 the flowers, acuminate. Awn arising from near the base of the 

 palea. Leaves slender. 



Corynephorus canescens, Beauvois, Lindley, Bahington, Macreight, 

 Loudon. Aira canescens, Lm««MS. £.5.1190; ed. 2. 107. 

 Hooker and Arnott. 



Not strictly indigenous, but in many places abundant, on the 

 sandy sea-coasts of Norfolk, Suffolk, Dorset, and the Channel 

 Islands. Stems slender, six inches to a foot in height, often many 

 from the same root. Leaves very narrow, nearly setaceous. 

 Panicle, in its full development, spreading; but more frequently 

 compact, or interruptedly spicate ; often, when in flower, scarcely 

 escaping from the sheath. Spikelets variegated, purple and white, 

 small, stalked. Anthers purple. Awn straight, rising from near the 

 base of the outer palea ; jointed about the middle ; the lower part 

 thicker, cylindrical, striated, and twisted, brownish-yellow, opake, 

 terminating in a circular tuft of short bristles ; upper part club- 



