GRAMINA. 
131 
smooth, the uppermost one very shghtly inflated, much longer than 
its leaf, frequently eight or ten times as long, and very rarely so little 
as twice as long ; ligule slightly prominent, generally broader than 
long, obtuse, rarely sub-acute, erose. Panicle erect, deltoid -pjTamidal, 
lax, open. Panicle -branches in pairs, spreading, once or twice tricho- 
tomous, slightly scabrous. Spikelets drooping or pendulous, roundish- 
deltoid, compressed, 4- to 9-flowered, but usually 7-flowered. Glumes 
})roadly oval-obovate, concave and hooded towards the apex, shorter 
and narrower than the lower pales of the florets contiguous to them, 
dull purple, rarely green, with broad white scarious margins. Lower 
pale quadrate-oval, concave, hooded towards the apex, slightly in- 
durated and boat-shaped in fruit, purple, rarely green, with broad 
white scarious margins. Anthers purple or yellow, exserted. 
In meadows, pastures, downs, and heaths. Rather common, and 
generally distributed in England and the south of Scotland, extending 
north to Ross and Lanark. It occurs in Orkney, but possibly it may 
have been introduced there with grass seeds. Frequent throughout 
Ireland. 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 
Plant growing in small tufts, formed chiefly of shgrt leafy barren 
shoots, produced at the extremity of the extremely short branches of 
the rootstock. Flowering stems 6 inches to 2 feet high, slender, 
slightly bent at the nodes, leafy at the base, and with 3 or 4 stem- 
leaves, the uppermost of which has an extremely elongated sheath ; 
knots exposed, purplish. Radical leaves, and those on the barren 
shoots 1 to 8 inches long by |- to -|- inch broad, very rough on the 
margins; uppermost stem-leaf ^ to 3 inches long, but rarely above 
an inch. Panicle 1 to 6 inches long. Spikelets ^ to ^ inch long, and 
al)out as broad. Florets -|- inch long. 
When the pales and glumes are greenish, it is the var. pallens of 
French authors. (' B. lutoscena, Fouc. Joum. Bot. TIL, page 211.' 
te.st. Boreau.) In this form the up]>ermost sheath often embraces the 
base of the panicle, but this is not always so. 
Com mon Quaking- Grafts. 
