Hordeum. ] LXXXIX. GRAMINEE. 527 
several of the eastern and southern English coasts, absent in Wales, 
Scotland and Ireland, Fl. swmmer. 
XXVIT. 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 in the first edition, as in many Floras, included in Triticum, a genus 
founded on the cultivated Wheats, all annuals, supposed to have been of 
Oriental origin. These are certainly allied to Agropyrum, but, it is believed, 
still nearer so to A’gylops, a Mediterranean genus which some believe to 
have been the parent of the Wheats. 
Rootstock creeping. ; e . . . : : - . » 1. A. repens. 
No creeping rootstock . - : . 2, A. caninum. 
1, 4. repens, Beauv. (fig. 1209). ee Agropytun Couch or Quitch 
Grass.—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 gradually 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. FV. summer. Triticum juneeum, Beauv., and 7. 
laxum, Fries. (T. acutum, R. and §., and 7. pungens, R. and S.) 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. 1210). Fibrous Agropyrum.—In the 
structure of the spikelets and their arrangement, this species closely 
resembles A. repens, but the stems are tufted, without any creepmg 
rootstock, more leafy, and not so glaucous. Glumes rather thinner, with 
5 very prominent ribs, and terminating in a rather long awn; the outer 
empty ones usually smaller than the flowering ones, with shorter awas, and 
often only 3 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. summer. 
XXVIII. LOLIUM. LOLIUM. 
Spikelets several-flowered, closely sessile, and single in each notch of the 
