( 45 .) 
ALOPECU'RUS* *. 
Linnean Class and Order. TRiA'NDRiAf, Digy'nia. 
Natural Order. Grami'nea:. Juss. — Lind. Syn. p. 293. ; 
Introd. to Nat. Syst. Bot. p. 292. — Rich, by Macgilliv. p. 393. 
Gen. Char. Calyx (fig. 3.) of 2 valves (glumes), containing 
one floret. Valves egg-spear-shaped, pointed, compressed, ribbed, 
nearly equal, often united at the base. Corolla (fig. 1.) of one 
concave, ribbed, pointless valve (palea), about the same length as 
the calyx. Awn arising from the base of the palea, (fig. 1.) and 
above twice its length, roughish, finally twisted and reflexed. Fila- 
ments 3, hair-like. Anthers cloven at each end. Germen roundish. 
Styles 2, hair-like, more or less united at the base. Stigma long, 
feathery, spreading. Seed egg-shaped, smooth, loose, and covered 
with the palea. — Distinguished from other genera of GraminecE by 
the densely contracted spike-like panicle, the 1-flowered spikelets, 
awnless glumes, and single palea with an awn arising from its base. 
Six species British. 
ALOPECU'RUS PRATE'NSIS. Meadow Fox-tail-Grass. 
Spec. Char. Culm upright, smooth. Panicle spiked, cylin- 
drical, blunt. Glumes pointed, hairy, united at the base ; Awn 
twice the length of the palea. 
Eng. Bot. t. 759. — Curt. FI. Lond. t. 296. — Host’s leones et Descriptiones 
Graminum Austriaconun, v. ii. p. 24. t. 21. — Knapp’s Gramina Britannica, 
t. 14. — Huds. FI. Angl. (2nd ed.) p. 27. — Sm. FI. Brit. v. i. p. 72. Eng. FI. 
v. i. p. 79. — With. (7th ed.) v. ii. p. 148 — Mart. FI. Rustica, t. 6. — Lind. Syn. 
p. 299. — Hook. Br. FI. p. 27. — Graves’ British Grasses, t. 21. — Leers’ Flora 
Herbornensis, p. 15. t. 2. f. 4. — Sinclair’s Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis, p. 
139. — Gray’s Nat. Arr. v. ii. p. 142. — Sibth. FI. Oxon. p. 34. — Abbot’s FI. 
Bedf. p. 12. — Purt. Midi. FI. v. i. p. 67. — Relh. FI. Cant. (3rd ed.) p. 27. — 
Curtis on Grasses, (5th ed.) p. 8. t. 2. — Hook. FI. Scot. p. 21. — Grev. FI. Edin. 
p. 14. — Trinius’, De Graminibus, p. 142. — Walk. FI. of Oxf. p. 17. — Gramen 
Alopecuro simile glabrum, cum pilis longiusculis in spica, Ray’s Syn. p. 
396. — Gramen Alopecuroides majus, Johnson’s Gerarde, 10. 
Localities. — Meadows and pastures. — Common. 
Perennial. — Flowers in May. 
Root fibrous. Culms (stems J from 18 inches to 3 feet high, 
upright, jointed, smooth, striated, leafy, the part between the upper 
joint and the panicle somewhat twisted. Leaves a little glaucous, 
flat, roughish on the upper side, nearly smooth on the under ; from 
4 to 10 inches long, and about a quarter of an inch broad, gradually 
tapering to a point. Sheaths long, furrowed, smooth, and slightly 
swollen. Stipula (a whitish membrane at the summit of the sheath) 
short, and blunt. Panicle densely spiked, an inch and a half to 
Fig. 1. The 3 Stamens and 2 Pistils, and the Corolla, or Palea, with the Awn 
arising from its base.— Fig. 2. The Germen, Styles, and Stigmas. — Fig. 3. A 
Floret, showing the Glumes, the Palea, the Stamens, and the Pistils. 
* From alopex, Gr. a fox, and oura, Gr. a tail ; in allusion to the form 
of the spike. Withering. 
t The third class in the Artificial System of Linn.eus, containing all those 
plants which have perfect flowers with 3 distinct stamens in each. 
