3T2 



WEEDS AXD USEFUL PLAXTS. 



glumes, awnecl ou the back below the middle, upper palea ivaniing. 

 Styles commonly united ; stigmas long and plumose. Floivers in a dense, 

 soft, cylindrical terminal spike. 



1, A. PRATEx'sis, i. Culm erect, smooth; palea equalling the acute 

 glumes ; awn exserted more than half its length, twisted. 

 Meadow Alopecurus. Common or Meadow Foxtail. 



Perennial. Culm about 2 feet tiigli, smooth. Leaves smooth, fiat, the upper oue much 

 shorter than its iuflated sheath. The spike-hke jxjwif Ze 1-2 mches long, yellowish green. 

 Glumes and palea hairy and ciliate. 



Meadows ; Xew England and New York. Xative of Europe. May. 



Obs. This is considered a valuable pasture grass in England, produc- 

 ing a luxuriant aftermath. According to Mr. Flint, (*' Grasses and 

 Forage Plants,"' a work containing many useful statistics), it is not 

 valued by the Massachusetts farmers, as a field grass, on account of be- 

 ing so light in proportion to its bulk. Two other species are found in 

 the country, but they are of no value in agriculture. ^ 



5. PHLE'UM, L. Cats-tail Grass. 



[An ancient Greek name ; meaning obscure.] 



PalecE 2, membranaceous, shorter than the mucronate or awned ghnnes ; 

 the lower palea truncate, usually a wnless. Styles dikxinct. Other char- 

 acters much as in Alopecurus. Culms somewhat wiry ; spikes dense 

 and harsh. 



1. P. pRATEx'sE, L. Spike cylindric, elongated : glumes truncate, mu- 

 cronately awned,— the awns shorter than the glumes ; keel ciliate. 

 Meadow Phleum. Cats-tail Grass. Herds Grass of Xew England 

 and New-York. Timothy of Pennsylvania, <fcc. 

 Fr. Fleole des Pres. Germ. Das Wiesen-lieschgras. 



Root perennial, fibrous. Culm 2-4 feet high, simple, terete, smooth, — when old rather 

 firm and wiry, and often somewhat bulbous at base.' Leaves 6-12 or 15 inches long, 

 lance-linear,' acute, flat, glaucous, somewhat scabrous ; sheaOis striate, smooth : liriule 

 membranaceous, obtuse, finally lacerate. Spike 3-6 or S inches long.' green. Ghunes 

 equal, compressed, abruptly niucronate, pubescent, Paleoi concealed in the glumes, the 

 lower one larger. '^«i7i€)-s purple, Siuimas white. 



Fields and meadows : cultivated, X'ative of Europe. Fl. June. Fr. July. 



Obs. This foreign Grass is extensively naturalized in the United States. 

 In Xew-Tork, and throughout Xew-England, it is known by the name 

 of Herds Grass, — a name" which, in Pennsylvania — and I believe in all 

 the States South — is applied exclusively to Ageostis vixgaris. L. The 

 Meadow Phleum, or Timothy, is very generally cultivated in Eastern 

 Pennsylvania ; and is undoubtedly one of the most valuable of the -'' arti- 

 ficial grasses," so called. Mixed in about equal proportions with red 

 clover (TRn'OLiUM pratexse, L.) it makes the best quality of Hay. It 

 requires a good soil. — and is considered a rather severe and exhausting 

 crop ; — inasmuch as the aftermath, cr second growth of radical leaves, is 

 somewhat scant and tardy during rhe dry weather which usually sue- 



