46 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 
Horprum—forets in threes, of which the central one 
is fertile, the lateral ones usually imperfect ; glwmel 
incorporated with the seed. 
1. H. sylvaticum—wood lyme-grass—wood barley ; spike 
smooth, upright; spikelets three-flowered; florets with a 
long awn; leaves flat and drooping.—P. : 
2. H. murinum—wall barley; spike about two inches 
long; spikelets three-flowered; central perfect ; lateral 
ones imperfect; all with long awns.—A. ; 
3. H. pratense—meadow barley; spike smaller than in 
the preceding; lateral florets with short awns ; central one 
with an awn twice the length.—P. 
The first of these, H. sylvaticwm, is usually named 
Elymus Europeus, but its position is perhaps more natural 
with the barley, though it would appear to have a greater 
affinity with the cereal than the meadow types of the genus. 
It is essentially a wood grass, with broad flat drooping 
leaves, but as yet we know nothing of its character in 
cultivation; but, having this year collected a lot of seed for 
our garden, we shall hope soon to be able to add some facts 
to its natural history. 
As regards the H. murinwm, this is confined to sandy 
soils, in which it is a sad weed, especially in corn fields, 
banks, and hedge-rows—the tertiary sands of Suffolk, the 
marine sands in the old Severn strait, decomposed sand- 
stones, and indeed a perfectly sandy soil anywhere is 
peculiarly liable to it: it is not strictly a grass of the 
meadow, choosing the margins of fields, edges of pathways, 
mounds, and hedge-banks. Its plentiful green herbage 
grows very early, and is not deficient in nutritive properties, 
so that it may be grown for soiling, but care should be 
taken not to let it advance to flowering, as the long rough 
serrated awns are most obnoxious to cattle, sticking about 
the mouth and causing great irritation; from this cause 
hay is much deteriorated by its presence, so that corners of 
fields in which it may occur should not be mown with the 
crop, but be cut earlier so as to prevent its seeding. 
