GRASS FAMILY 



567 



panicle 6 — 12 in. long, narrow, nearly simple, with sub-erect 

 branches, only spreading when the flowers are open ; spikelets 

 \ in. long, pale greenish, 2 -flowered ; lower -flower staminate, with 

 long, basal, bent, twisted awn ; upper perfect, usually awnless. — 

 Hedges and pastures ; common. (Name from the Greek arrhen, 

 male, ather, awn.) — Fl. June, July. Perennial. 



26. Cynodon (Dog's-tooth grass), of which C. Ddctylon 



arrhenatherum elatius cynodon dactylon 



(Common False Oat). (Creeping Dog's-tooth grass). 



(Creeping Dog's-tooth grass) is the only British species, is a low, 

 prostrate grass, with long, tough runners and short, flat, glaucous 

 leaves, distinguished from all other British grasses, except * 

 Digitdria sanguindlis and D. linearis, by the digitate arrangement 

 of the 3 — 5 slender, purplish spikes in its panicle, each of which 

 is 1 — 12-in. long, and from those two species by having its awn- 

 less spikelets arranged singly, not in pairs, along the spikes. — 

 Sandy pastures by the sea in the south-western counties ; very 



