522 THE GRASS FAMILY. | [ Avena. 
and often of a yellowish hue, not half the size of those of A. pratensis. 
Glumes all scarious, the 2 outer empty ones very unequal. Flowering 
glumes usually 4 or 5, cleft into 2 points; the awn twisted and bent as in 
the last two species, but short, and very fine and hair-like. Tvrisetum 
flavescens, Beauv. _- 
In rather dry meadows and pastures, in temperate and southern Kurope 
and temperate Asia, extending northward into southern Scandinavia. Fre- 
quent in England, much less so in Scotland and Ireland. Fl. summer, 
Like A: pratensis, it varies in the glabrous or hairy leaf-sheaths, and in 
the length of the points of the glumes, 4 
XIX. ARRHENATHERUM. FALSE-OAT. 
A single species, separated from Avena as having the lower flower of 
each spikelet male only. At the same time, a minute rudimentary pro- 
longation of the axis above the upper flower shows its general affinity with 
the Poacee, not with the Panicacee, to which it might be technically 
referred. The articulation is also above the outer glumes as in Poacee. 
1, A. avenaceum, Beauv. (fig. 1197). Common False-Oat.—An 
erect Grass, 2 or 3 feet in height, perennial but not forming large tufts. 
Leaves few and flaccid. Panicle narrow and loose, 6 or 8 inches long, 
spreading only whilst the flowers are open. Spikelets 3 to 4 lines long, 
2-flowered, the two outer empty glumes thin and pointed, the second nearly 
as long as the flowers, the outermost rather shorter. The lowest flowering 
glume has a fine bent awn on the middle of the back about twice its own 
length, and contains stamens only; the upper flower is perfect, with a 
minute awn near the top of the glume or none at all. 
In meadows, hedges, and thickets, throughout Europe and western Asia, 
except the extreme north. Common in Britain. 7, swmmer. 
XX. HOLCUS. HOLCUS. 
Panicle somewhat open, but with numerous crowded spikelets, all 2- 
flowered ; the upper flower male only, its glume bearing a short awn; the 
lowest hermaphrodite, its glume usually awnless. Outer glumes boat- 
shaped, compressed, enclosing the flowers. Axis of the spikelet without 
hairs. 
A genus limited by most botanists to the two European species, allied 
on the one hand to Digraphis, from which it differs in the presence of an 
upper male flower and the want of the rudimentary scales below the perfect 
one; on the other to Arrhenatherum, but with a different habit, and the 
male flower above, not below, the perfect one. 
Outer glumes about 2 lines long, rather obtuse, concealing the awn 1. H. lanatus. 
Outer glumes nearly 3 lines long LRRD, pointed, the awn DERE 
beyond them . " - - . 2 HM. mollis. 
1. H. lanatus, Linn. (fig. 1198). Common Holo perennial 
Grass, with a creeping rootstock and ascending stems, 1 to 2 feet high, 
more or less clothed, as well as the leaves, with a very short down, which 
gives to the whole plant a pale, soft appearance. Panicle 2 to 3 inches 
long, of a pale-whitish colour or sometimes reddish. Outer glumes about 
