123 
Var. major (Gaud.) Farw. Rcdtop. 
A. alba Schrad. var. major Gaud., FI. Helv., I, 189, 1828. 
A. stolonifera L. var. major (Gaud.) Farw., Mich. Acad. ScL, Kept. 21, 
351, 1919. 
A. palustris Huds., in Piper, Agr. Spec. Bent Grasses, pt. I, Bull. 692, 
U.S.D. Agr., 3, 1918; and in Hitchcock, Gen. Grasses, United 
States, Bull. 772, U.S.D. Agr., 128, 1920; very doubtfully A. 
palustris Huds., FI. Angl., 27, 1762. 
Stolons subterranean, scaly, or wanting. Culms erect, tall. Leaves 
about 4 mm. wide or more. Panicle pyramidal to oblong, generally purp- 
lish; the branches spreading or ascending after flowering. Fields, meadows, 
pastures, roadsides, etc. Common in agricultural districts east of the 
prairies. Along railways, in waste places in cities and towns, etc., in the 
Prairie Provinces and the Rocky mountains. Common in southwest 
British Columbia and settled sections of Vancouver island ; Dawson City 
and vicinity, Y.T. 
Var. compacts Hartm. Creeping bent, Carpet bent. 
A. stolonifera L. 0 compada Hartm., Handb. Skand. FI. Ed. 2, 19, 
1832. 
A. maritima Lam. Diet. I, 61, 1783. 
A. stolonifera 8 maritima Koch., Syn. I, 781, 1837. 
A. alba L. var. maritima Meyer, Chloris Hanov., 656, 1836. 
Probably A. palustris Huds., F. Angl. 27, 1762. 
Densely matted with long, leafy stolons creeping on the surface of the 
ground and rooting at the nodes. Culms short, ascending from a decumbent 
base. Leaves rarely over 3 mm. wide. Panicle oblong — linear during 
flowering, later becoming contracted with erect and more or less appressed 
branches, generally straw colour. Salt marshes, wet meadows, shores of 
rivers and brooks. Common in eastern Canada. Rarer in the Prairie 
Provinces, though apparently overlooked in many places; collected by 
the writer in 1925 at Pincher Creek, Alberta (altitude 3,700 feet), Calgary, 
Alberta (altitude 3,400 feet), Nordegg, Alberta (altitude 4,500 feet), 
Mountain Park, Alberta (altitude 6,000 feet). Not uncommon in the 
Victoria-Comox district of Vancouver island, B.C.; Prince Rupert, B.C. 
A. stolonifera x tenuis 
This hybrid, which is intermediate between the two species and 
characterized by a very high degree of sterility in both the male and female 
organs, was collected by the writer some years ago at Charlottetown, 
P.E.I., but unfortunately the specimens were lost. 
2. A. tenuis Sibth. Rhode Island bent, Browntop, Prince Edward 
Island bent, Colonial bent. 
A. tenuis Sibth., FI. Oxon., 36, 1794. 
A. vulgaris With., Arr. Brit. PL Ed. 3, 132, 1796. 
A. alba L. var. vulgaris (With.) Thurb., in Gray's Man., Ed. VI, 647, 
1890. 
A. capillaris L. in Hitchcock, Gen. Grasses, United States, Bull. 772, 
U.S.D. Agr., 129, 1920; very doubtfully A. capillaris L,, Sp. PL, 
62, 1753. 
Perennial. Loosely tufted, in many cases forming more or less com- 
pact mats, with or without creeping, overground stolons. Culms erect, 
