THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 5 
of cultivation be strictly maintained, but left to themselves 
they would either die out altogether, or revert once again 
to some original wild type. 
The natural grasses, which it is the object of these papers 
to illustrate, may, for convenience, be divided into the 
following groups :— 
1. Jungle, or Bush Grasses. 
2. Aquatic, or Water Grasses. 
3. Marine, or Seaside Grasses. 
4. Meadow, or Pasture Grasses. 
5. Agrarian, or fallow Grasses. 
1. Jungle grasses are those which for the most part have 
a tendency to grow in a distinctive and separate manner, 
assuming in some tropical examples, where they reach their 
maximum, the height of 50 or 60 feet, presenting more the 
aspect of trees than the lowly herbs of our northern species. 
In our own country, though we fall far short in size, yet 
many of our species have the same disposition of growing 
in distinct bunches, having no inclination to form a matted 
turf, but mix with shrubs, or grow as separate plants beneath 
tall trees, or maintain a distinctive form even in meadows. 
Of these the following may be appealed to as examples :— 
Aira cespitosa—Turfy hair-grass (hassock-grass of farm- 
ers). 
Avena pratensis—Narrow-leaved oat-grass. 
Brachipodium pinnatwun—Heath false brome-grass. 
5 sylwaticwn—Slender false brome-grass. 
Elymus Europeus—W 00d lyme-grass. 
Festuca elatior—Tall fescue-grass. 
There are other grasses which, if cultivated by them- 
selves, assume the same distinctive, and even cushion form 
of growth, as 
Festuca ovina*—Sheep’s fescue. 
* This is almost the only grass which will grow beneath the tall beech 
groves of the Cotteswolds, though never in a matted turf, but always in 
distinct hassocks. It grows the same in my experimental plot in the 
Botanical Garden of the Royal Agricultural College. 
B2 
