Polypogon.] LXXXIX. GRAMINEA 51? 



A genus of very few species, but widely spread over a great part of 

 the globe. 



Awns three or four times as long as the spikelets . . . 1. P. monspeliensis. 

 Awns scarcely longer than the glumes themselves . . . 2. P. littoralis. 



1. P. monspeliensis, Desf. (fig. 1181). Annual B. — An annual, 

 procumbent at the base or rarely erect, 1 to 1^ feet high, with flat, 

 rather flaccid leaves. Panicle contracted into a cylindrical or slightly 

 branched spike, 2 to 3 inches long, of a yellowish shining green, and 

 thickly bearded with the numerous straight and very smooth awns. 

 Outer glumes nearly equal, notched at the top ; the fine awn proceed- 

 ing from the notch, and 3 or 4 times as long as the glume itself. 

 Flowering glume shorter, often with a short, very fine awn. Palea 

 smaller and awnless. 



In fields and waste places, on roadsides, &c, especially near the sea, 

 common in the Mediterranean region and Asia, extending up the west 

 coast of Europe to Holland. Rare in Britain, and only in some of the 

 south-eastern counties of England. Fl. summer. 



2. P. littoralis, Sm. (fig. 1182). Perennial B. — A procumbent per- 

 ennial, with rather short, narrow, flat leaves. Panicle more branched 

 than in P. monspeliensis, the glumes longer, narrower, tapering into an 

 awn scarcely longer than the glume itself. Flowering glume small, the 

 awn reduced to a minute point. In habit almost intermediate between 

 Polypogon and Agrostis, but the articulation of the pedicel, as well as 

 some other characters, show the close generic affinity with Arundinella 

 in the exotic tribe Andropogonece. 



In salt marshes, scattered here and there along the seacoasts of 

 western Europe, the Mediterranean, and North America. In Britain, 

 very local on the coasts of Norfolk, Essex, Kent, and Hampshire. Fl. 

 summer. 



XIII. AGROSTIS. AGROSTIS. 

 Spikelets small, 1 -flowered, and numerous, in an elegant panicle, 

 with slender branches often proceeding several from the same point, 

 and either erect forming a narrow, almost spike-like but loose panicle, 

 or spreading, at least at the moment of flowering. Outer glumes 

 narrow, boat-shaped, pointed, but without awns. Flowering glume 

 shorter, often bearing a fine straight awn on the back below the middle. 

 Palea much smaller or altogether wanting. The axis of the spikelet 

 within the outer glumes glabrous or very shortly hairy. 



The genus, as now limited to the exclusion of the more tropical 

 Sporobolus, is chiefly spread over the temperate regions of the globe. 

 Some species are commonly called Bents in some parts of the country, 

 a name given by others more especially to the Cynosurus cristatus. 

 Awn 2 to 4 times as long as the spikelets. Second glume longer 



than the lowest 4. A. Spica-venti. 



Awn none, or not twice as long as the spikelet. Outer glumes 

 equal, or the lowest the longest. 

 Leaves flat (broad or narrow). 

 Flowering glumes awnless or with a very short awn at its 



base. Palea about half its length 1.-4. alba. 



Flowering glume with a short awn below the middle. Palea 



minute or none 2. A . canina. 



Leaves very fine and subulate . . . . . 3. A. setacea. 



