100 



Cynosueus bchinatds. Kough Dog's-tail Grass, Hedge-hog Grass. 

 Plate LXXXI. 



Panicle contracted, forming a more or less dense sub-ovate, uni- 

 lateral spike. Spikelets nearly sessile. Awn equalling in length the 

 outer palea. 



Cynosurus echinatus, Linnceus. E. B. 1333 ; ed. 2. 140. Generally 

 adopted. 



Rare. Found on the sandy sea-coasts and dry pastures in their 

 vicinity in the extreme south of England ; occasionally inland about 

 towns, and in other parts of the kingdom, probably owing to the chance 

 distribution of seed from gardens in the neighbourhood. Common in 

 Jersey and Guernsey. Grows in tufts, sending up several erect wiry 

 stems, one to two feet in height. Leaves flat, usually broader and 

 shorter than those of G. cristatus, sharply acuminated, rough on both 

 sides, flaccid. Ligule long, pointed. Inflorescense variable in general 

 form, compact, rounded or semi-ovate, half an inch to an inch and 

 a lialf in length, always one-sided. Spikelets mostly two- or three- 

 flowered. Teeth of the accompanying hract (barren- spikelet) linear, 

 long pointed, straight, acute, distant. Glumes, rough on the keel, 

 much longer than the lowermost flower. Lower palea ovate-lanceolate, 

 obscurely five-veined ; the middle vein very rough, and terminating in 

 a long, slender, rough awn, equalling in length or longer than the 

 palea. 



Annual. Flowers in July. 



A sand colonist, indigenous apparently to the basins of the Mediter- 

 ranean and Black Seas, from which it has been gradually disseminated 

 over southern and western Europe ; reaching in the latter our Channel 

 Islands, but scarcely yet established as an English plant, requiring 

 possibly a higher temperature for ripening its seeds abundantly than 

 that usuaEy experienced in this climate ; though upon one occasion it 

 is said to have been found on a barren moor in the Shetland Islands. 

 In the garden it grows freely, and sown in tufts is very ornamental, 

 but an ungenial summer has, on more than one occasion in metropolitan 

 Surrey, rendered its renewal by seed from a warmer district necessary ; 

 a circumstance that would account for its uncertain recurrence in 

 recorded habitats. 



As a mere pioneer to vegetation of a higher grade, it cannot be sup- 

 posed to possess any immediate agricultural value. 



Genus 35. FESTUCA. Fescue Grass 



Gen. Char. Inflorescence paniculate, spreading or compact, rarely 

 spikelike. Spikelets stalked, many-flowered, rarely three-flowered, 

 more or less laterally compressed. Glumes two, unequal, mem- 

 branaceous, pointed, much shorter than the spikelet. Paleae two, 



