MEADOW FOXTAIL 



531 



end of April. The leaves are liairy, broad and flat, somewhat 

 rapidly tapering to a fine long point. The whole plant, especially 

 when dry, emits a fragrant characteristic perfume, due to a small 

 amount of coumarin in it ; this pleasant odour it imparts to hay, 

 in which it is present, and on this account is frequently but 

 erroneously considered a useful pasture grass. We consider the 

 inclusion of this grass in mixtures as a serious mistake from 

 the farmer's point of view, and would strongly recommend the 

 agriculturist to completely discontinue its use. The yield is in- 

 significant, and it is refused by almost all kinds of stock when 

 anything better is to be obtained : moreover, 

 the price of the seed is always high, and specially 

 liable to be inferior in quality and purity. Its 

 place, so far as earliness is concerned, can pro- 

 fitably be taken on most soils by the far superior 

 grass, foxtail. 



Fuel's Vernal-Grass (A. Puelii Lee. et Lam.) 

 resembles the former species but its panicle is 

 not so dense and the stems and leaves more 

 slender and narrower. It is moreover an annual, 

 and has but a faint odour. It is a useless weed 

 introduced by ' seeds ' used for the adultera- 

 tion of those of sweet vernal-grass (see p. 661). 



Genus Alopecurus. 



Panicles cylindrical and spike-like, spikelets 

 one-flowered, compressed, flower protogynous \ 

 empty glumes without awns, fringed with hairs 

 on the keel and generally more or less united at ,iUep''an?c|e7f'M«cbw 

 their bases ; flowering glume with a bent dorsal "^"J'sL^rofieaf-biade 

 awn, no pale present. ^""P:^^^,^ (tJJ 



Meadow Foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis L.). naturaUize). 

 — A slightly creeping perennial grass growing best upon damp 

 and stiffish soils. When sown on dry soils soon dies out. It is 



