Root fibrous, fibres woolly. Culm (stem) from 4 inches to a 
foot, or more, high, upright, often geniculated (knee-bent) at the 
base, leafy ; striated and downy at the top. Leaves spear-shaped, 
yery soft and downy, wavy at the margins, blunt, or sometimes 
egg-shaped, at the base. Sheaths (vagina;) inflated, ribbed, very 
downy. Stipula (ligula) oblong, downy. Panicle upright, or 
more or less inclining, very dense, forming an egg-shaped spike of 
many flowers, woolly from the copious soft hairs of the calyx. 
Glumes (see fig. 2.) equal, strap-spear-shaped, sharp pointed, and 
clothed with very long, white hairs. Palea; (see fig 3.) unequal, 
the outer palea striated, hairy, bifid at the apex, with a long dorsal 
awn ; inner palea shorter, membranous, smooth. 
This is a very pretty grass, and extremely rare in a wild state in 
Britain, having been found only in the Isle of Guernsey. In the 
more southern parts of Europe it is much more frequent. Sir 
James Edward Smith observed it about the ruins of the Roman 
amphitheatre at Frejus in France; (Tour on the Continent, v. i. 
p. 198). It is also a native of Italy, Sicily, and Portugal. 
“ This is human happiness ! 
Its secret and its evidence are writ 
In the broad book of nature. ’Tis to have 
Attentive and believing faculties ; 
To go abroad rejoicing in the joy 
Of beautiful and well-created things ; 
To love the voice of waters, and the sheen 
Of silver fountains leaping to the sea ; 
To thrill with the rich melody of birds. 
Living their life of music ; to be glad 
In the gay sunshine, reverent in the storm ; 
To see a beauty in the stirring leaf, 
And find calm thoughts beneath the w hispering tree ; 
To see, and hear, and breathe the evidence 
Of God’s deep w isdom in the natural world ! 
It is to linger on ‘ the magic face 
Of human beauty,’ and from light and shade 
Alike to draw a lesson ; ’tis to love 
The cadences of voices that are tuned 
By majesty and purity of thought ; 
To gaze on woman’s beauty, as a star 
Whose purity and distance make it fair ; 
And in the gush of music to be still. 
And feel that it has purified the heart ! 
It is to love all virtue for itself. 
All nature for its breathing evidence ; 
And, when the eye hath seen, and when the ear 
Hath drunk the beautiful harmony of the world. 
It is to humble the imperfect mind. 
And lean the broken spirit upon God !” 
N. P. WILLIS. 
