GRAMINA. 
75 
slender, rough. Pedicels shorter than the spikelets. Spikelets erect, 
few, oUong-wedgesliaped, 2- to 4-flowered, shining, green, variegated 
with violet and white. Glumes nearly equal, rough on the keel, 
acuminate, the lower one 1-nerved, the upper one 3-nerved, rather 
larger than the lower, and nearly as long as the spikelet. Lower pale 
gradually acuminate, terminated by 2 short acute teeth, ultimately 
parcliment-like with scai-ious margins. Awn from a little above the 
middle of the pale, that of the lower floret twice as long as the 
upper glume. Axis bearded at the base of the florets, the hairs of 
the second floret more than half the length of its lower pale. 
In meadows and by the banks of streams. Rather sparingly 
but widely distributed, extending from Cornwall, Isle of Wight, 
uiid Kent to Orkney and Shetland. Not unfrequent, and generally 
distributed in Ireland. 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 
Stems 1 to 2 feet high. Longest leaves 2 to 6 inches long by to 
i inch broad, rather abruptly pointed at the apex. Panicle 2 to 6 
inches long. Spikelets i to f inch long, exclusive of the awns, varie- 
gated with pale or dark purple, green, and white. Awns brown. 
Downy Oat-Grass. 
French, Avoine pilescente. G-erman, WeicJihaariger Safer. 
itKlL-e<l f;!l!ows the chalk and oolites into llio valleys. Of little agricullural value, it 
SPECIES in.— A VENA PKATENSIS. Llna. 
Plates MDCCXXXIX. MDCCXL. 
rnJh.t, Fl. Gall, ct Germ. Ex^ii^c. No. 8^8. 
Trisetum prateuse, I)u„i.;-t. Agrost. Belg. p. 1-22. Pani. Grasses of P.ntam, p. 1-22. 
Perennial. Den>elv ctcspitose, not stoloniferous. Stems usually 
numerous in each tuft, ascending, wholly glabrous or slightly scahrons. 
Leaves narrowly Ihiear, rigid, rather thick, channelled, hooded at the 
apex, with several thick contiguous raised cartilaginous ribs, scabrous 
on the edges, glabrous, glaucous above, green beneath ; sheaths glabrous 
or scabrous ; ligule prominent, lanceolate. Panicle erect, racemose 
or slightly branched, not spreading even at the time of flowering ; 
panicle-branches tew, slender, rough. Pedicels shorter than the 
spikelets. Spikelets erect, few, oblong-elliptical, o- to C'll<Dwered, 
^hininir, pale green, variegated with pale wlet and white. Glumes 
nearly equal, rough on the keol, acuminate. 3-nerved, shorter than the 
