Illustrated Descriptions of the Grasses 



most attractive colour- 

 ing, and even before 

 flowering the dense 

 growth of blue-green 

 leaves is noticed in 

 marked contrast to the 

 lighter colour of the 

 marsh. 



A stout perennial 

 with creeping rootstocks, 

 this grass grows most 

 luxuriantly in wet mead- 

 ows and in shallow water, 

 where the profusion of 



Enlarged spikelet of 

 Phalaris arutidinacea 



leaves, which are always 

 darker in colour than the 

 smooth and shining 

 stems, forms a mass of 

 verdure shoulder-high. 

 I n bloom the short 

 branches of the panicles 

 spread from the stem, 

 but they are soon drawn 

 closely to it again as the 

 flowers fade, and in the 

 ripening head the fungus 

 commonly known as 



ergot often appears as black spurs issuing from between the scales. 

 The true Canar\'-grass {Phalam ccuiarihisii). cultivated in 



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