&otrses by the Thames side goinp; from the horse-ferry above Westminster to 
Ghelsea : Mr. Newton, in Ray’s Syn . — Norfolk ; cultivated fields about Nor- 
wich : Sir J. E. Smith. Field out of St. Giles’s Gate, Norwich: ibid. — Sur- 
rey; In Battersea Fields: Sir J. E. Smith, and Mr. W. Pamplin, jun. — 
Worcestersh. Near Stourbridge? (Scott): Mr. E. Lees, in New Bot. Guide. 
Annual. — Flowers in July and August. 
Root fibrous. Culms ( stems J one or more, from 6 inches to 
3 feet high, simple, sometimes branched, spreading, jointed, leafy, 
striated, angular, rough at the top. Leaves strap-spear-shaped, 
taper pointed, harsh on both sides, very rough on the margins, 
which are beset with very small transparent teeth, which point to- 
wards their summits, and which are readily perceived if the finger 
and thumb are drawn gently from the summit towards the base of 
the leaf. Sheath (vayina) long, striated, smooth, sometimes 
compressed. Stipnla ( ligulaj (see fig. 8.) of numerous short 
hairs, which are continued a little way down the margins of the 
sheath. Panicle in the form of a spike, compound, from 2 to 4 
inches long, upright, somewhat lobed, the branches short, about 
4 in a whorl, lower whorls more distant, each branch of several 
flowers, every pair of which (fig. 3.) is accompanied by about 
2 channelled, angular bristles (see fig. 2.), longer than the whole 
branch, and rough with minute teeth, which point downwards. 
Flowers (see figs. 3 & 4.) generally in pairs, egg-shaped, one only 
being perfect, the other generally destitute of both stamens and 
pistils ; each inserted into a little terminal disk or cup, close to the 
bristles (see fig. 1). Calyx (fig. 2.) pale, with green ribs, smooth, 
even. Corolla (fig. 4.) almost as large as the calyx ; palece very 
minutely wrinkled, or dotted, at least in the perfect floret, and con- 
stituting a riged shining coat to the seed, enclosed in the permanent, 
but loose and unaltered, larger glume of the calyx. 
This is nearly allied to the other British species ( Setdria viridisj, 
with which it is often found growing, and when in a dwarf state 
greatly resembles it, but may be readily distinguished from that by 
the minute teeth on the bristles of the involucrum pointing back- 
wards, so that the panicle drawn over the back of the hand or the 
cuff of the coat adheres very strongly ; and when several panicles 
grow near each other, they are very apt, from this cause, to become 
entangled. 
It is subject to considerable variation in the colour of its leaves 
and panicles ; in some soils and situations, the foliage as well as 
the panicle being strongly tinged with red. 
It is indigenous in Europe, the Levant, and Japan ; but is con- 
sidered to be a rather doubtful native of Britain, being generally 
found here in cultivated fields and garden grounds. 
The seeds are greedily devoured by small birds ; but the produce 
of herbage is so small that it is beneath the notice of the Agricul- 
turist. Withering says, that in Japan the flour of this plant is 
made into cakes. 
