no 
Sect. II. Trichodium (L. C. Rich, apud Michx. FL bor.-am. I, 41, 
1803, pro. gen.) Trin., Gram. Unifl. 204, 1824. 
To the latter section, which is characterized by the absence of the 
inner flowering glume or palea, or by the presence of a rudimentary one, 
5 to 8 times shorter than the lemma, belongs A. canina L., the Velvet bent 
grass. As A. canina is well defined and universally recognized throughout 
the botanical literature as a distinct species, there is no need of commenting 
upon it further. 
All the other commercial bent grasses belong to the section Eua- 
grostis which is characterized by having an inner flowering glume or palea 
about half as long as the lemma, or longer. The bent grasses belonging 
to this section have a rather perplexing range of variation and have, as a 
result, been interpreted in various ways by North American botanists 
and students of agricultural botany. 
Thus Gray’s Manual (32, p. 132) recognizes only one species, with a 
number of varieties, as follows: 
Agrostis alba L. — Fiorin or White bent, Redtop. 
“ “ var. vulgaris (With.) Thurb. — Redtop, Herd’s 
grass of Pa., etc. 
“ u var. (A. stolonifera auth., not L.) — Creeping bent. 
“ “ var. aristata Gray. (A. strida Willd.) 
“ “ var. maritima (Lam.) G. F. W. Mey. {A. coarctata 
Ehrh.) 
Britton and Brown (3, p. 203) maintain two species, viz.: 
Agrostis alba L. {A. vulgaris With., A. alba var. aristata A. Gray, 
A, alba var. vulgaris Thurb.) — Redtop, Fiorin, Herd’s grass; and A. 
maritima Lam. (A. coarctata Ehrh., A. alba maritima Meyer), Dense- 
flowered bent grass. 
Henry (10, p. 33) recognizes one species, A. alba L. — Redtop, with 
the var. vulgaris Thurb. 
Hitchcock and Standley (13, p. 83) include two species, viz.: 
Agrostis palustris Huds. (A. alba of Ward’s Flora.) — Redtop; and 
A. capillaris L. (A. alba vulgaris Thurb,, A. vulgaris With.), Rhode Island 
bent. 
House (15, pp. 98-99) lists the following species and varieties: 
Agrostis palustris Huds. (A. alba of most authors, doubtfully of 
Linnaeus.) — Redtop; A. palustris Huds. var. stricta (Willd.) House 
(A. stricta Willd., A. alba var. aristata A. Gray); A. tenuis Sibth. (A. 
vulgaris With.) — Rhode Island bent; A. stolonifera L. — Creeping bent, 
Carpet bent; A. maritima Lam. (A. coarctata Ehrh., A. alba var. maritima 
G. F. W. Mey.) — Fiorin, Dense-flowered bent grass. 
Wiegand and Eames (42, p. 76) recognize two species and one variety, 
as follows: A. alba L. 1 (A. vulgaris, in part, and A. vulgaris, var. alba , 
of Cayuga FI.) — Redtop, Bent grass; A. alba L. var. maritima (Lam.) 
G. F. W. Meyer (A. palustris Huds., probably) — Carpet bent grass; A. 
tenuis Sibth. (A, vulgaris of authors; A. capillaris L., possibly; A. alba var. 
vulgaris , of Gray’s Man., ed. 7) — Rhode Island bent grass. 
1 The authors doubt whether this name should be applied and only retain it provisionally. 
