ghamina. 
25 
Sub-Species Il.—Alopecurus geniculatas. 
Plate MDCCI. 
Bekh. Ic. Fl. Genn. et Helv. Vol. I. Tab. CLXXVIH. Fig. 472. 
Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. ^o. 2164. 
Stems geniculate, decumbent and usually rooting at the base, 
floating or terrestrial, the lower joints slender or rarely slightly 
swollen, simple, branched from the lower knots. Leaves thin, with 
numerous close broad slightly raised rough ribs, dull green, slightly 
glaucous. Panicle cylindrical, rounded at the base and apex, not 
tapering more towards the apex than the base; panicle-branches 
mostly with 2 to 4 spikelets. Spikelets oblong. Glumes united only 
at the very base, subacute, as long as the pales, membranous, pubescent, 
pale green, with a lead-coloured or more rarely green stripe on each 
side of the keel, and another at the apex, parallel to the inner margin ; 
keel not winged, ciliated with long silky hairs throughout. Awn 
from below the middle of the pale and nearly as long again as the 
glumes. Anthers narrowly oblong, yellowish-white or purple, changing 
to orange-brown. 
In meadows and wet places, and occasionally floating in the water 
in ponds and ditches. Common, and generally distributed, 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Early Summer to 
Autumn. 
Stems 3 to 18 inches long, geniculate, the last joint beneath the 
panicle erect; lowest joint sometimes slightly swollen, when it has 
been mistaken for A. bulbosus. Leaves similar to those of A. fuivus, 
but darker green, and with ribs furnished with asperities raised into 
short prickle-like hairs, while in A. fuivus there are merely raised 
points. Panicle 1 to 2^ inches long, thicker in proportion to its 
length than that of A. fuivus, less tapering, darker coloured, from the 
purplish or lead-coloured markings which are commonly present on the 
glumes. Spikelets inch long, exclusive of the awn, which is com- 
monly nearly as long as, and sometimes even longer than the spikelet. 
Glumes longer in proportion to the pales than in A. fuivus, much less 
obtuse, indeed appearing acute when they are viewed as they appear 
on the plant without opening them out : some authors describe them 
as blunt, but these no doubt describe the form of the glume when its 
two sides are separated and kept apart. Awn from lower down on 
the back of the pale, and greatly extending beyond it, by which, even 
at a superficial glance, it may be known from A. fuivus. Anthers at 
least twice as long as broad, and never of the bright orange -scarlet 
colour which is so conspicuous in A. fuivus. 
The characters which separate this A. geniculatiis from A. fuivus 
