ON THE MIXED HERBAGE OE PERMANENT MEADOW. 
1283 
localities, and have broader and more grass-like foliage. The latter genus alone is 
represented on the plots. 
Luzulct campestris. 
The field Woodrush is a small tufted perennial, with a creeping root-stock, some¬ 
times giving off offsets. The true roots are fine, and do not penetrate deeply. The 
leaves are linear and grass-like. It flowers in early spring, is protogynous, is wind- 
fertilised, and produces abundance of seed, which sheds before mowing. 
Although nowhere forming a very prominent feature of the vegetation, it is one of 
the most widely distributed plants known, being found in the northern hemisphere 
from the Arctic regions to the Mediterranean ; in America, from Canada to South 
Carolina ; as well as in Australia, New Zealand, and the Cape of Good Hope. Any 
climate, therefore, except an extremely hot or dry one, will suit the plant. It seems 
to be equally indifferent to the nature of the soil; but in this country it is usually 
found in association with grasses, &c., in pastures and meadows. The circumstances 
that would seem to favour it in its struggle with other denizens of meadow land are 
the same as those which enable it to exist over so wide a geographical area. Its 
hardiness, creeping root-stock, and abundance of seed, all give it an advantage ; though 
only once has it been found to take the most prominent place among miscellaneous 
plants, and then on the unmanured plot. 
Table LXII.—Relative predominance of Luzula ccimpestris. 
It was found in the samples from 16 out of 19 plots in 1862, from all (20) in 1867, 
from 19 out of 22 in 1872, and from 18 out of 22 in 1877, but it was observed on one 
more in that year. 
