Hordeum.] LXXXIX, GRAMINE. 529 
extending northward to Denmark, but not into the Baltic. Abundant 
on several of the eastern and southern English coasts, absent in Wales, 
Scotland, and Ireland. Fl. summer. 
\ 
XXVIII. AGROPYRUM. AGROPYRUM. 
Spikelets several-flowered, closely sessile, and single in each notch 
of a simple spike, the side of the spikelet or edge of the glumes being 
next the axis of the spike. Outer empty glumes 2, similar to the 
flowering ones. 
The genus consists of few species, all perennials, widely spread over 
the temperate regions both of the northern and southern hemispheres. 
They were formerly included in TVriticum, a genus founded on the 
cultivated Wheats, all annuals, supposed to have been of Oriental 
origin. These are allied to Agropyrum, but, it is believed, still nearer 
so to digylops, a Mediterranean genus believed to have been the parent 
of the Wheats. 
Rootstock creeping : ‘ : i ‘ ; : : i . 1. A. repens. 
No creeping rootstock . : : : ; : : . 2. A. caninum. 
1. A. repens, Beauv. (fig. 1213). Gonch or Quitch.—A perennial, 
with an extensively creeping rootstock, and stiff, ascending or erect 
stems, 1 to 2 or even 3 feet high; the whole plant varying from a 
bright green to a pale glaucous colour. Spikelets 8 to 10 or more, at 
regular distances on alternate sides of a spike varying from 2 or 3 
inches to twice that length, each one containing 5 or 6 flowers. 
Glumes all alike in shape, narrow and stiff, marked with 5 or more 
nerves, and usually pointed or terminating in an awn, sometimes 
exceedingly short, sometimes as long as the glume itself : the outer 
empty glumes about 4 lines long ; the flowering ones oradually shorter, 
with less prominent nerves ; the terminal one usually small and empty 
or quite rudimentary. 
In fields and waste places, throughout Europe and Russian Asia, 
from the Mediterranean to the Arctic regions, and in North and South 
America. Abundant in Britain. Fl. summer. Triticum gunceum, Beauv., 
and 7. laxum, Fries. (7. acutum, R. and S., and 7. pungens, R. and 8.) 
appear to be maritime varieties of the same species, much stiffer and 
more glaucous, with the leaves almost pungent, and the glumes often 
obtuse. They are frequent on seacoasts throughout the range of the 
common A, repens, and have been often observed to pass gradually into it. 
2, A. caninum, Beauv. (fig. 1214). Febrous A.—In the structure of 
the spikelets and their arrangement this species closely resembles A. 
repens, but the stems are tufted, without any creeping rootstock, more 
leafy, and not so glaucous. Glumes rather thinner, with 5 very pro- 
minent ribs, and terminating in a rather long awn; the outer empty 
ones usually smaller than the flowering ones, with shorter awns, and 
often only 8 ribs. 
In woods and shady places, in Europe and temperate Asia, from the 
Mediterranean to the Arctic regions, and in North America. Generally 
distributed over Britain. Fl. swmmer. 
7 a 
