GRAMINE^. 



991 



5. Compact Brome. Bromus madritensis, Linn. (Fig. 1201) 

 (B. diandrus, Eng. Bot. t. 1006.) 



A much smaller plant than the bar- 

 ren B., seldom above a foot high, less 

 downy, and with narrower leaves. Pa- 

 nicle erect or nearly so, very compact, 

 and oftenof a purplish tint, the branches 

 much shorter than the spikelets. Awns 

 as in the last two, longer than the flower- 

 ing glumes ; but the whole spikelet, in- 

 cluding the awns, is seldom 2 inches 

 long. The flowers have, like other 

 Bromes, sometimes only 2 stamens. 



On roadsides, and in waste places, 

 throughout southern Europe, extending 

 up the west coasts to the English Chan- 

 nel. In Britain, only in the southern 

 counties of England, and in Tipperary 

 county, Ireland. Fl. early summer. 



Fig. 1204. 



6. Field Brome. Bromus arvensis, Linn. (Fig. 1205.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 920 and t. 1984, B. pratensis, B. commutatus, and B. 

 jpatulus, Brit. Fl. Serrafalcus (4 species), Bab. Man.) 



An erect annual or biennial, varying 

 much in size, from 1 to 2 or 3 feet high, 

 more or less softly downy, or sometimes 

 quite glabrous. Panicle sometimes small, 

 slender, elongated or compact, and 

 nearly erect, but more frequently more 

 or less drooping, yet never so large nor 

 so loose as in the hairy B. and the bar- 

 ren B. ; and amidst all its variations, 

 the species is always distinguished from 

 the 4 preceding ones by its short, ob- 

 long or ovoid, turgid flowering glumes, 

 3 to 4 lines long, and more closely packed, 

 giving a broader and fuller shape to the 

 spikelet. Awn slender, usually about 

 the length of the glumes, straight, or 

 spreading when dry, but not in so 

 marked a manner as in the south Eu- 

 ropean B. squarrosus, said to have appeared occasionally in our corn- 

 fields. 



Fig. 1205. 



