GRAMINA. 
151 
Tar. a, gemiina. 
Plate MDCCLXXXIX. 
P. elatior, 8m. Eng. Bot. ed. i. No. 1593. 
Sheaths usually smooth, or the lowest ones slightly rough. Panicle 
closed in fruit. 
Var. 0, arundinacea. 
Plate MDCCXC. 
F. arundinacea, Sclircl. Bah. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. vi. p. 420. 
Sheaths very rough, especially the lower ones. Panicle-branches 
divaricate after flowering. 
Plant larger and stouter, ribs of the leaves and panicle-branches 
more scabrous than in var. a. 
On meadows and banks by the sides of streams and near the coast, 
rather common and generally distributed. Yar. 3 on wet banks 
and moist sand by the sea, on the south coast of England, in Devon- 
sliire, the Isle of Wight, and Kent. 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer, Autumn. 
Var. a is a large coarse grass, growing in tufts, which rapidly 
increase in size, from the stout stolons extending armually consider- 
ably in advance of the flowering stems. Stems usually 3 or 4 feet 
high, but varying from 2 to o feet. Longest leaves 1 to 2 feet long 
bv \ to o inch broad, their margins slightly reflexed, the upper side 
with verv numerous ribs, so that the leaf is very conspicuously 
striate and opaque above, but beneath is dark shining green with 
only the midrib prominent. Panicle 6 inches to 1 foot long, arching 
and contracted when it first protrudes from the uppermost sheaths 
then widely spreading, but still shghtly drooping^ and with the 
branches all haim-ino: over so as to be secund while in flower, lastly 
again closed in iVuit. Spikelets about I to ^ inch long. Florets % 
inch long. Midrib of the lower pale usually excurrent a little below 
the apex; in a short rough mucro or awTi of variable length, but 
never exceedino: one-sixth the length of the rest of the pale. 
\'ar. (3 is a lar^rtT and rougher plant, with longer and broader 
leaves than var. «, and the panicle -branches remain divaricate even 
after flowerinj?. 
Tall Fescue- Grass. 
FrcTicb, F.:/ ."i C-v^-:. German, Eoker Sclwuuj^l. 
