﻿Localities. — In valleys among the Highlands of SCOTLAND. — Forfar- 

 shire ; among the Grampians, in a narrow valley called Glen Kclla, where it 

 was discovered by the late Mr. G. Don. 



Perennial. — Flowers in May and June. 



Root creeping. Culms a foot or 18 inches high, upright, rownd, 

 smooth, leafy in the lower part. Leaves rather broad, flat, smooth 

 on both sides, rough at the margins ; those from the root strap- 

 shaped, attenuated ; from 4 to 6 inches long, revolute when dried ; 

 those of the culm spear-shaped, scarcely an inch long ; sheaths 

 from 2 to 6 inches long, smooth, with permanent ribs. Stipulas 

 short, broad, and rather blunt. Panicle upright, with slender, 

 somewhat wavy branches, directed most to one side. Spihelets 

 egg-shaped, greenish-yellow', variegated with purple or brown. 

 Florets 3 in each spikelet, inserted alternately on a very short, 

 smooth, wavy axis (see fig. 2.), the intermediate one (fig. 2, a.) 

 perfect and diandrous ; the 2 lateral ones (fig. 2, b.) barren and 

 triandrous. Glumes (fig. 1.) nearly equal, egg-shaped, pointed, 

 rather longer than the florets. Palece unequal ; outer one (fig. 2, b.) 

 largest, rough on the back, awnless, fringed at the margin ; inner 

 one very thin, white, filmy, about half as wide as the outer, spear- 

 shaped, concave, notched at the summit. Nectary (fig. 4.) deeply 

 cloven, with strap-shaped, pointed segments. Filaments very 

 slender, hair-like, white. Anthers yellow, strap-shaped, attached 

 by the middle, versatile. Germen (fig. 3.) somewhat spindle- 

 shaped, smooth, narrowing into the style, which is scarcely half 

 the length. Stigmas 2, strap-shaped, feathery. See Suppl. to 

 Engl. Bot. and Sm. Engl. FI. 



This is an early flowering Grass, and is possessed of consider- 

 able nutritive property, yet the powerful creeping roots, its tender 

 nature, and the great deficiency of foliage in the Spring, are de- 

 merits which discourage the idea of recommending it to the 

 Agriculturalist. See Sinclair’s Hort. Gram. IVoburnensis. 



It has an agreeable scent, resembling that of the swcct-scentcd 

 Vernal-grass, Anthoxanthum odoratum, (folio 99). Linnasus 

 informs us that it is a soporific, and sold in the towns in Sweden to 

 be suspended over the beds, and is supposed to induce sleep. 



