GRAMINA. 
117 
curving by their own weight. Leaves flat towards the base, chan- 
nelled, and abruptly pointed and hooded at the apex ; uppermost 
sheath 2 to 3 times as long as its leaf ; ligule of the uppermost stem 
leaf elongate, those of the lower leaves and of the barren shoots 
quadrate, not longer than broad. Panicle slightly open and rhom- 
boidal in flower, closed and fusiform-cylindrical in fruit. Panicle- 
branches very slender, ascending in flower, erect in fruit. Spike - 
lets ovate, 1- to 4-flowered, but generally 2- or 3-flowered, never ( ?) 
viviparous. Florets very slightly connected by arachnoid hairs. 
Lower pale subacute, glaucous green, more or less faintly stained with 
purple, with broad brownish-white margins. 
On rocky debris and dry ledges of rocks, on high mountains ; rare, 
Loch-na-gar, Aberdeen, where I have gathered it on the rocky debris 
under the south-east corner of the great precipice, and on rocks at 
the north-west margin of the same corrie, and on rocks on the north 
slope of Cairn-Towl, Aberdeen. Ben Nevis, Inverness. " Mr. John 
Mackay" (Smith, "English Botany"). 
England. Perennial. Autumn. 
Plants growing in dense tufts, without any appearance of a 
creeping rhizome. Stems often very numerous, so weak that they 
bend by the weight of the panicle, 3 to 9 inches long. Leaves 1 to 
3 inches, the uppermost stem leaf 1 to 2 inches. Panicle f to 2 inches 
long. Spikelets J to 4- inch long. Spikelets about i inch long. 
This differs from P. stricta (with which perhaps it ought not to be 
combined as a subspecies) by having the leaves channelled and hooded 
towards the apex; the stems and panicle-branches more slender and 
weaker, the panicle closed after flowering; the arachnoid hairs at the 
base of the florets longer ; the spikelets paler coloured, and ap • 
parently never viviparous, even when the plant grows intermixed 
with l\ stricta. 
A third subspecies of P. laxa, yiz. P. minor, Gaudin, occurs in the 
Alps of Southern Europe, but has not been detected in Britain. It 
has the stems fewer and still more slender and weak than in P. eu- 
l;ixa, and the panicle-branches capillary, the spikelets oblong-lanceo- 
late, 4- to 6-flowered, the florets connected by more abundant arachnoid 
hairs, and the lower pales more acuminate : the leaves and liizules 
similar to those of P. eu-laxa, but narrower. 
Reichenbach's figure of P. laxa represents a plant mth a creeping 
rootstock, so that 1 hesitate tc quote it under P. eu-laxa. 
Wavy Meadow- Grass. 
Frenrh, Tdi-trln German, Schliffes TH-^pengnis. 
