192 
TRIANDRIA. DIGYNIA. Avena. 
Spiked Brome Grass. B. pinnatus. Linn. Relh. Sm. FI. Brit. Leers. 
Host. Willd. Festuca pinnata, Huds. Dicks. Sm. Eng. FI. Schrad. In 
arid upland fields and heaths, especially in chalky or limestone soils. 
(Not uncommon in Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, and Kent. Sir J. E. Smith. 
About Dorking, Surry. Mr. Winch. E.) Near Nunnington, Yorkshire, 
Teesdale. Burford Downs, Oxfordshire. Rev. Dr. Goodenough. 
P. July. E.*) 
STI'PA.f Calyx two-valved, one flowered. Blossom outer 
valve terminating in a spiral awn. Awn jointed at the 
base. 
S. penna'ta. Awns feathery. 
(E. Bot. 1356. Ox. viii. 7. row 3. 9—Barr. 46—C. B. Tli. 71— 
Munt. 617— Clus. ii. 221. 3—Ger. Em.A2. 6— J. B. ii. 512. 2 — Mont. 68 
— Scheuch. 3. 13. B. (Munt. 173. Woodw.) 
Awns from six to twelve inches long, or more; set with very fine, white, soft, 
pellucid, diverging hairs. This very beautiful and remarkable feature at 
once distinguishes it from all other grasses. 
(The awns remain permanently attached till the seeds become ripe; when, 
invested with their elegant appendages, and barbed with penetrating 
bristles, they are thereby scattered over and attached to plains and rocks 
for the fresh propagation of their species. Stems a foot high. Leaves in 
dense tufts, upright, long, narrow, dark-green. Panicle simple, erect, of 
six or seven flowers. E.) 
Downy FeatherGrass. Mountainous rocks. P. July—Aug. 
In Ray’s Syn. p. 393, this elegant grass is said to have been found by Dr. 
Richardson and Thomas Lawson, on the limestone rocks hanging over a 
little valley called Longleasdale, about six miles north from Kendal. In 
the second edition of With. Mr. Alderson is said to have found it near 
Kendal. Mr. Gough, of Kendal, never detected it, nor heard of any per¬ 
son that has, except those just mentioned ; there is therefore reason to 
fear that it may be exterminated—(an apprehension confirmed by Mr. 
Winch.) Mr. Woodward also states that Mr. Alderson never found it 
there, but only heard that it grew on the spot. Unless therefore some new 
discovery be made, one of the most beautiful grasses must be expunged 
from the list of British Plants. E.) P. July—Aug.J 
AVE'NA. Calyx two-valved, many-flowered. Awn from the 
back of the blossom, twisted. (Seed united to the indu¬ 
rated outer valve. E.) 
A. ela'tior. Panicled: calyx two-flowered : barren floret awned: 
perfect one sometimes awnless. 
* (It cannot as yet be considered in any other light than as a noxious weed, for 
though the weight of produce is large, it is neither early, nutritive, nor relished by cattle. 
Hort. Gram. Mr. O. Roberts has observed it on Spoonbed-hill, near Painswick, so stolo- 
niferous as to be prejudicially exclusive of more beneficial herbage. E.) 
t (An ancient generic name, probably derived from cttv ttjj, a silky or feathery sub¬ 
stance ; such as the awns of this plant exhibit. E.) 
t A most interesting plant, so much resembling the plumes of the bird of Paradise as 
frequently to be substituted by ladies for that elegant ornament. Its agricultural 
merits are supposed to be inferior. E.) 
