Annual. — Flowers in March, April, and May. 
Root fibrous, fibres long and slender. Stems from 1 to 3 inches 
high, upright, simple, slender, triangular, the base alone covered 
with the sheaths of the leaves, the rest naked. Leaves few, very 
short, from a quarter of an inch to half an inch long, strap-shaped, 
channelled, blunt, with elevated scattered dots. Stipules ( sheaths J 
membranous, from a quarter of an inch to an inch long, somewhat 
inflated, striated, bluntish, cloven, but not deeply divided, pale 
brown, almost white. Flowers mostly sessile, alternate, sometimes 
subsecund, forming a loose, simple, upright spike of from 6 to 10 
flowers, 2 or 3 of the lowermost of which are often more or less 
stalked. Raehis ( common stalk ) flexuose, slender, smooth, an- 
gular, but not excavated as in the truly spiked grasses. Glumes 
(see fig. 1.) nearly equal, smooth, shining, and, like the upper part 
of the stern, of a purplish-green colour. Paleee (see fig. 2.) un- 
equal, membranous, pellucid, white, hairy ; the outer twice as 
large as, and embracing, the inner. Stamens (see fig. 1.) twice as 
long as the glumes, anthers oblong, yellow, 2-horned at the apex. 
Seed covered by the corolla (paleae), inversely egg-shaped, brown, 
dotted, the dots disposed in longitudinal lines. See Hooker’s 
Flora Londincnsis. 
There are specimens (whether British or Foreign is not stated) 
of this curious little grass in the Shcrardian Flerbarium, at the 
Botanic Garden, which vary from three quarters of an inch to more 
than 5 inches in height. The two outside figures in the annexed 
plate represent two varieties of this species, which came up from 
seed in the Oxford Botanic Garden. 
Knappia agrostidea is said to be a well known Grass on the coasts 
of France; it is also a native of Germany. It is quite a Spring 
plant, flowering very early, and ripening its seed about May, after 
which it soon disappears. 
It is remarked by the Rev. Hugh Davies, in his Welsh Botanology, that 
“ each calyx expands, and immediately dismisses the seed, as soon as it is ripe, 
the uppermost first, the rest in succession, each enveloped in its cottony vest, a 
property which seems peculiar to this (trass ; probably an empty calyx or two, 
at the upper end of the spike, when the lowermost had by no means ripened their 
contents, gave origin to an idea of its being a monoecious plant.” 
This minute Grass, though useless to the farmer, is, from its rarity and beauty, 
of considerable interest to the botanist. 
The elegant and pleasing writer, whose name iscommemoraled in this humble 
plant, very justly observes, that “ young minds cannot be too strongly impressed 
with the simple wonders of creation by which they are surrounded ; in the race 
of life they may be passed by, the occupation of existence may not admit atten- 
tion to them, or the unceasing cares of the world may smother early attain- 
ments — but they can never be injurious — will give a bias to a reasoning mind, 
and tend, in some after thoughtful, sobered hour, to comfort and to soothe. The 
little insights that we have obtained into nature’s works are many of them the 
offspring of scientific research ; and partial and uncertain as our labours are, yet 
a brief gleam will occasionally lighten thedarksome path of the humble inquirer, 
and give him a momentary glimpse of hidden truths: let not then the idle and the 
ignorant scoff at him who devotes an unemployed hour, — 
‘ No calling left, no duty broke,’ — 
to investigate a moss, a fungus, a beetle, or a shell, in * ways of pleasantness, 
and in paths of peace.’ They are all the formation of Supreme intelligence, for 
a wise and a woithy end, and may lead us by gentle gradations to a faint concep- 
tion of the powers of Infinite Wisdom. They have calmed and amused some of 
us worms and reptiles, and possibly bettered us for our change to a new and more 
perfect order of being.” See The Journal of a Naturalist, (2nd ed.) p. SI. ; 
and Time’s Telescope for 1825, p. 346. 
