123 



very slight differences in habit and minor features being utterly lost in 

 intervening forms. In regard to value as a pasture grass, it is about 

 ecfuaJ to most others of its genus. The early foliage may be cropped 

 by sheep and cattle, but it is of no account later in the season. 



Bkomus mollis. Soft Brome Grass. Plate CVI. 



Panicle erect, rather compact, more or less branched. Spikelets 

 ovate, rather compressed, pubescent. Flowers closely imbricated, 

 downy, about as long as the straight awn. Leaves and sheaths hairy 

 or downy. 



Bromus mollis, Linnoms. E. B. 1078; ed. 2. 153. Pamell. 

 Hooker and ArnoU. Serrafalous mollis, Babmgton. 



Common throughout the kingdom in almost aU soils and situations, 

 growing alike in meadows and pastures, and on banks and road-sides, 

 and not unfrequently in corn-fields, to the impoverishment of both soil 

 and crop. The whole plant is pubescent, and very soft to the touch, 

 hence the specific name. It varies greatly in stature, according to 

 situation and exposure, being often under a foot, while among com it 

 rises to two or three feet. Leaves soft, downy on both surfaces, but 

 the edges are rough when drawn downward across the fingers. Inflo- 

 rescence, unless in very small specimens, more or less compound, the 

 branches of the panicle in either case being comparatively rough and 

 hairy. Spikelets ovate or oblong, darkish green, variegated with the 

 lighter-hued, or whitish margins of the palese, eight- or ten-flowered. 



Annual. Flowers from the end of May to July. 



Many variations are presented by this most common of the British 

 Brome Grasses, but with one exception they do not seem to be perma- 

 nent. This latter, B. mollis, B. velutinus, is found on the sandy shores 

 of Cornwall and South Devonshire, and is chiefly remarkable for its 

 densely pubescent character throughout ; the panicle is always simple, 

 and the peduncles very short, or even sometimes obsolete, the spikelets 

 being sessile. 



The Soft Brome Grass, where abundant, may generally be regarded 

 as indicative either of natural barrenness, or exhaustion of the soil, and 

 its value consists rather in its office of colonizer and renovator than in 

 any addition made to the crop by its scanty foliage. In fields intended 

 for mowing it is an unwelcome intruder, as the hay with which it is 

 much intermingled is alwfiys ungrateful to cattle. With a view of 

 extirpating a grass that must on this account be regarded as a mere 

 useless weed, Mr. Sinclair recommends frequent mowing to prevent 

 the seeds arriving at maturity ; a valuable piece of advice, as it is 

 very prolific, and not at all prone to abandon ground of which it has 

 once obtained possession. 



I believe the five grasses of this section above figured and described, 

 to be forms of the same type, and that type to be Bronms mollis, to 



