Lagurus. | LXXXIX. GRAMINEA. 515 
bearing on its back a long, hair-like, bent awn, usually at least twice the 
length of the spikelet. 
In maritime sands, and waste places, common all round the Mediterra- 
nean, and extending up the west coast of Kurope to Guernsey ; also found, 
but not wild, in Suffolk. FU. early summer. 
XII. POLYPOGON. BEARDGRASS. 
Spikelets 1-flowered, densely crowded in a spike-like or slightly branched 
panicle, the pedicel articulate below the glumes, Outer glumes ending 
in a fine, straight awn. Flowering glume thinner and smaller, with a fine 
twisted and bent or minute and straight awn, in a terminal notch, or on 
the back. 
A genus of very few species, but widely spread over a great part of 
the globe. 7 : 3 
Awns three or four times as long as the spikelets. -  « IL. P. monspeliensia, 
Awns scarcely longer than the glumes themselves . . . 2 P., littoralis. 
1. P. monspeliensis, Desf. (fig. 1178). Annual Beardgrass.—An 
annual, procumbent at the base or rarely erect, 1 to 14 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 tbe numerous straight and very smooth awns. 
Outer glumes nearly equal, notched at the top; the fine awn proceeding 
from the notch, and 3 or 4 times as long as the glume itself. Flowering 
glume shorter, often with a short, very fine awn. fPalea smaller and 
awnless. 3 
In fields and waste places, on roadsides, etc., especially near the sea, 
common in the Mediterranean region, and eastward far into central Asia, 
extending up the west coast of Europe to western France, and very sparingly 
along the Channel to Holland. Rare in Britain, and only in some of the 
south-eastern counties of England. FV. summer. 
2. P. littoralis, Sm. (fig. 1179). Perennial Beardgrass.—A pro- 
cumbent perennial, 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. The plant is, indeed, in habit almost 
intermediate between Polypogon and Agrostis, but the articulation of the 
pedicel, as pointed out by General Munro, as well as some other characters, 
show the close generic affinity with Arundinella in the exotic tribe 
Andropogonee. 
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. £l. 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. one glume shorter, often bearing a fine 
Lr1l2 
