1G5 



Independent of difference in habit, T. caninum has so many features 

 in common with T. repens, or rather is separated from it by characters 

 so questionable, and so liable to modification, that the specific identity 

 of the two is far from being undeniable. At present they are regarded 

 as distiuct, and this assumption is warranted by their varied form of 

 growth; but, whether we are justified in associating such variation 

 with the rudimental dissimilarity of structure upon which the separation 

 of species should depend, requires further insight regarding vegetable 

 physiology than we at present possess. 



Genus 43. BRACHYPODIUM. False Brome Grass. 



Gen. Char. Inflorescence racemose as to the disposition of the 

 spikelets. Spikelets solitary, linear, subcylindrical, many-flowered, 

 diverging from the rachis, toward which their sides are directed. 

 Glumes two, opposite, unequal. Paleae two, rounded on the back ; 

 the outer one pointed or awned at the extremity ; the inner one 

 retuse, coarsely fringed on the upper part of its ribs or veins. 



The genus is one of comparatively small extent, founded by Beauvois 

 for the reception of certain previously anomalous species of Triticum, 

 Bromus, or Festuca. The unequal glumes, long subcylindrical spikelets, 

 and coarsely-fringed ribs of the inner palea distinguish it from 

 Triticum ; the sessile spikelets and terminal awn or point of the outer 

 palea from Bromus, and the first of these latter characters from Festuca, 

 the equivocal F. loliacea excepted, with which, however, it is not at all 

 liable to be confounded. 



The species are collectively destitute of agricultural value, being 

 disliked by sheep and cattle, and, indeed, rarely eaten by any herbi- 

 vorous animals. 



The name is not well chosen, being compounded from the Greek 

 brachys, short, and pous, a foot, in allusion to the short stalks of the 

 spikelets ; the latter being so nearly sessile as to render the presence 

 of pedicels often very doubtful. 



Brachypodium sylvaticum. Slender False Brome Grass. Plate 

 CXXXIII. 



Inflorescence slightly drooping. Spikelets solitary, alternate, some- 

 what secund, nearly cylindrical. Awns of the upper flowers longer 

 than their paleae. Leaves fiat, linear-lanceolate, flaccid. Eoot fibrous, 

 tufted. 



Brachypodium sylvaticum, Beauvois. E. B. ed. 2. 182. Most 

 modern botanists. Festuca sylvatica, Hudson. Withering. Smith. . 

 Bromus sylvaticus, Pollich. E. B. 729. Triticum sylvaticum, 

 Moench. Parnell. 



