121 
This statement, however, is not entirely correct and, therefore, some- 
what misleading. In the first place, one might get the impression that 
A. stolonifera L. is a local grass, “growing about Upsala, Sweden.” But 
this is not the case. Linnaeus himself, both in the first (20, p. 23) and in 
the second edition (22, p. 22) of Flora Suecica states that it “Habitat in 
agris incultis ubique, praesertim Upsaliae” i.e., that it grows everywhere 
in uncultivated fields, especially at Upsala. As a matter of fact, it is 
common from the most southern province of Sweden to approximately 
southern Lapland. Secondly, Piper (l.c.) says that it is known as kryphven, 
that is “Creeping bent.” Linguistically, Piper may have had reason to 
translate the Swedish “kryp-hven” — or “krypven,” as the modern spelling 
is — into Creeping bent, but it is a mistake to identify “krypven” with 
Creeping bent only, that is to say to apply the name “krypven” only to 
forms of Agrostis having overground creeping stolons. The Swedish name 
“krypven” is used not only for the latter forms, but also for those upright, 
non-stoloniferous ones which on the North American continent are com- 
monly called Redtop, as well as for all the forms which are intermediate 
between the latter and Creeping bent, as may be seen from Neuman 
(26, p. 774), Lindman (18, p. 75), and Holmberg (14, p. 142). 
These Swedish authors, following the lead of Murbeck (25, p. 3), 
apply the name A. stolonifera L. to the polymorphous species which is 
popularly called “krypven.” As the writer also holds the opinion that 
there is no valid ground, as has been argued in the preceding, for the segre- 
gation of any of the numerous forms of the group under discussion as 
distinct species, and as A. stolonifera L. is the oldest valid name given to 
any element of the group in question, it should be retained for the species 
as a whole. 
Varieties. The most outstanding types within the polymorphous A. 
stolonifera L., constituting the extreme ends of a long and complicated 
series of intergrading forms, are the so-called Redtop and Creeping bent. 
As these grasses are of great agricultural and commercial importance it 
seems desirable that definite varietal names be applied to them. 
The Redtop, characterized by an upright, non-stoloniferous habit and 
by an open panicle with the branches spreading after flowering, has been 
called A. palustris Huds. by Piper (27, p. 3) and Hitchcock (12, p. 128). 
Whether, however, the name A. palustris Huds. is really applicable to 
Redtop, is rather doubtful. Hudson’s original description (16, p. 27) 
reads: “Agrostis panicula coarctata mutica; calycibus aequalibus hispi- 
diusculis coloratis, culmo repen te.” That is to say, it is an Agrostis with 
a contracted panicle and a creeping stem. This description, therefore, 
does not agree with Redtop, but rather with Creeping bent, or Carpet 
bent, as is also intimated by Wiegand and Eames. (42, p. 76). 
Anyway, when Redtop is regarded as a variety of A. stolonifera L., the 
oldest varietal name, under the international rules of nomenclature, should 
be applied. This appears to be var. major Gaud., described under A. alba 
Schrader (Gaudin, 7, p. 189). Stebler and Schroeter (40, p. 109) give the 
following excellent description of A. alba var. major Gaud.: 
“Stolons nul ou sculement sousterrains; tiges dressees, non couch<$es — radicantes 
infdrieurement; taille haute et panicule etal6e. C’est la forme la plus^re commend able au 
point de vue agricole comme 6tant de toutes la plus productive A cette form appar- 
tient le red-top (pointe rouge) des Americains ” 
