124 
ENGLISH BOTANY. 
Yar. 8, glaucaniha. Eeich. 
P. nemoralis, var. glauca, Bah. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. vi. p. 413. (non Gaud.? ) 
Glaucous. Stem rather firm. Uppermost sheatli about as long as its 
leaf. Panicle slightly drooping, lax, equal, pyramidal in flower, closed 
afterwards. Spikelets 2- to 4-flowered, glaucous green, sometimes 
tinged with pale purple. 
Var, £, ParnelliL Hook & Am. 
Plate :MDCCLXIX. 
Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. I^o. 3685. 
Slightly glaucous. Stem rather weak. Uppermost sheath as long 
as or even longer than its leaf. Panicle secundly drooping,* lax, 
equal, broadly pyramidal and open in flower, closed afterwards. 
Spikelets 2- to 4-flowered, but usually 2- or 3 -flowered, green, often 
faintly tinged with purple. 
Var. ^ dkaricata. 
Green. Stem rather weak. Uppermost sheath as long as or longer 
than its leaf. Panicle erect, lax, distichously unilateral, oblong-trian- 
gular and open in flower and fruit. Spikelets 1- to 4-flowered, but 
usually 2-flowered, green, often tinged with pale purple. 
\arieties a and 3 in woods and on hedge banks, rather common 
and generally distributed in England; more rare in Scotland, extend- 
ing to Elgin and Dumbarton. Var. y on walls and in dry places in 
England and Scotland. Var. 3 on mountains (Snowdon ?). Var. e 
on rocks, Teesdale. Var. ^ in woods in hilly districts, Breadalbane 
and Braemar. Some of these varieties occur in the east and north of 
Ireland, but I do not know which. 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 
A very variable plant, the stems from 9 inches to 3 feet high. 
Leaves 2 to 6 inches long, or even more in var. 0, by to | inch 
broad, with extremely short ligules. Panicle li to 6 inches long. 
Spikelets |- to | inch long, florets about | inch long. 
Of these varieties the most remarkable is var. 2", which has a dis- 
tichously secund rigid panicle with the lower branches in pairs only, 
as in P. eu-glauea and P. Balfourii, from which it and all the other 
• Babington sajs " erect." I have not seen tte wild plant alire, but in cultivation 
the panicle is conspicuoasir drtxtping and secund. 
