24 BRITISH SPECIES 
acute tip, 5- te 10-flowered ; glumes closely imbricate, both in flower 
and fruit; the flowering glumes differ from B. mollés in having 
their margins curved near the middle, not angular. Biennial, 
flowering June, July. 
Bromus commutatus, the Tumid or Confused Brome, is hardly 
distinguishable from the foregoing, and should perhaps only rank 
as a variety: it is found in pastures and waste ground. The 
panicle is slightly drooping and more branched, the lower branches 
often bearing two or more spikelets. The flowering glumes have 
a blunt angle on each side and are dull green with a brownish 
tinge ; fruiting glumes loosely imbricated, their margins involute. 
Anthoxanthum Puelii, Puel’s Vernal-grass, occurs in sandy pas- 
tures in the south of England. It is very similar to 4. odoratum, 
but annual and more slender. Culms numerous, about 9 inches 
high ; ligule oblong and laciniate. Panicle spikelike, lax; tips of 
the two awned glumes jagged, and the longer awn extending far 
beyond the apex of the spikelet. Flowering in July. 
Our next group comprises a dozen species which grow on downs, 
commons, uplands, heaths and moors. Several of them occur also 
in breezy situations by the coast. 
Festuca ovina, the Sheep’s Fescue, is abundant all over Britain, 
in hillside pastures and copses, and on mountain slopes. It is very 
closely allied to F. durtuscula, but the rootstock is densely tufted, 
without stolons, and the leaves are apparently solid and filiform 
(threadlike) ; ligule two very minute lateral lobes. Culms slender, 
6-9 inches. Panicle short, contracted and glaucous. Spikelets 
few, smaller than the allied species just named, on very ‘short 
branches or pedicels, 4 to 4 inch long, oval, 4- or 5-flowered ; 
flowering glumes narrow, rounded on the back, tapering into a 
mucro or short awn; fruit golden-brown. Perennial, flowering 
latter part of June. Var. / major is a taller plant with a larger 
panicle ; stem-leaves broader than the radical; flowering glumes 
usually awned. 
Nardus stricta, the Mat-grass, is found in great abundance on 
wet heaths and moors, as well as in elevated pastures and by 
heathy waysides, in places where water collects ; widely distributed 
throughout Britain. It is readily known by its tussocks of stiff, 
bristlelike leaves, these tussocks consisting of numerous tufts 
closely matted together and swollen at the base. The leaves are 
so closely involute as to appear solid, with a groove on the upper 
side, scabrid. Culms wiry, 6-9 inches. Spike slender, unilateral, 
purple. Spikelets about ¢ inch long, 1-flowered, sessile and soli- 
tary in two rows of notches on one side of the rachis; no empty 
glumes ; flowering glume subulate, keeled and prolonged into a 
short scabrid awn. The ovary differs from that of all other British 
grasses in having only one style and stigma. Perennial, flowering 
middle of June. 
Lriza media, the Common Quaking-grass (fig. 19), is plentiful 
on downs, heaths, and upland pastures, and often on poor meadowe 
