268 
A. nigra With. Arable land, near Ledbury, Hereford, Aug. 
6, 1923. — S. H. Bickham. The branches of the panicle are not 
so ascending-erect as usual, but the armature, habit, with the 
long ligule, says “nigra.” — A.B. A nice sheet containing dower- 
ing and fruiting panicles reached me. The latter seemed correctly 
named, but the flowering specimen I cannot separate from A. 
alba. The two frequently grow together. — C.E.S. This plant 
is best cited as A. stolonifera L. One of the main distinctions 
between A. alba and A. nigra is the position of the spines on the 
back of the glumes. I have examined a number of plants 
known as A. alba and A. nigra , and can find no constant differ- 
ence in that respect so as to be able to separate the one from the 
other by that character. Another character considered of im- 
portance is the distribution of the spikelets on the branches of 
the panicle. In A. nigra these are described as absent from the 
base of the branch, while in A. alba they are borne down to the 
base. In the specimen sent by Mr. Bickham the glumes are 
spinous below the middle and nearly to the base (see article by 
J. E. Bagnall in “Journ. of Bot.,” Vol. XX. p. 65, 1882), — 
W. R. Sherrin. Mr. Sherrin raises an old subject of controversy, 
and I much doubt if A. stolonifera L. is the nigra of Withering, 
so well described and figured in “Journ. Bot.,” 1882, by my late 
friend, J. E. Bagnall. He knew this grass intimately, and 
pointed it out to me in 1893 in Warwickshire, Staffs., and 
YVorcs., where it was quite frequent in arable fields, railway 
banks, and old clay quarries. Withering (“Arrangement,” Ed. 3, 
1796, II, p. 131), said in his description, “It has sometimes been 
considered as the Agr. stolonifera of Linn., but it is very 
different from that, and seems to have been figured by no one 
but Leers, who also is inclined to refer it to the stolonifera , but 
subjoins a mark of doubt.” One of Withering’s chief points is 
that nigra has “Florets few, thinly scattered at the ends of the 
branches.” The panicle branches are also more rigid. In the 
seventh ecln. of his work, edited by W. Withering, Jun., Vol. 
2, p. 157, 1830, A. nigra was dropped; but in a long note on 
that page we read, “A. nigra (Black Couch Grass) of With. ( A . 
repens of Sincl.) and A. maritima of With, should probably be 
comprehended under the present species.” ( i.e . A. alba L.) I 
have not seen the description by Linne of A. stolonifera ; but 
Withering says, “ Stem more extensively creeping, sometimes 
floating; but the chief difference consists in the still more dense 
and tufted lobes of the panicle, as in Eng. Bot. and Leers. 4, 5. 
Calyx besides is generally rough all over, with little bristly 
points.” Now these characteristics are hardly those of A. nigra , 
