Explanation 
of plate. 
Botanical 
description. 
Name and 
History. 
2 
VIII. Timothy or Meadow Cats-tail. 
Phleum pratense, L. 
Fig. A. Entire plant in flower, shewing two spikes in flower, and a young spike. 
1. Spikelet before flowering ; when in fruit the spikelet is quite similar. 
2, Spikelet in flower, shewing the stamens and stigmas protruding from its apex. 
3. The flower enclosed in the pales. 
4, The flower detached; composed of 2 lodicules, 3 stamens, and a pistil. 
5. False fruit, side-view 7. e. the caryopsis enclosed in the pales. 
, 6. False fruit, ventral surface. 
7. The caryopsis. 
8. Diagram of the one-flowered spikelet. 
9. Portion of the culm, with leaf-sheath, blade, and ligule. 
0. Transverse section of a leaf-blade (after Lund), shewing the indistinct ribs. 
Timothy forms simple, somewhat compact tufts of grass. The branches are intravaginal, but they 
soon burst the enclosing sheaths. No stolons are developed. The old sheaths of the radical leaves, 
break up into fibres (fig. A). The culms are smooth and erect; sometimes slightly bent at the base 
and rooting at the nodes. On dry ground, the base of the culm may thicken, (see varieties), and be- 
come tuberous. The /eaf-blades are convolute in the bud, yellowish green in colour, rough on the mar- 
gins, and very slightly ribbed on the upper surface (fig. 10). The ligule on the culm leaves is moder- 
ately long and acute (fig. 9); on the radical leaves it becomes shorter. The inflorescence is a compact 
spike-like panicle, in this case, a cylindrical spike, usually 1’/2 — 2'/s inches long; on very rich soils 
7—10 inches, The spikelets are one-flowered (fig. 8), The glwmes (figs. 1, 2, 8) are equal, and do 
not cohere together (distinction from Fox-tail). They completely cover the pales, are laterally compres- 
sed, acutely keeled, and obtuse at the apex; the keel is provided with a row of stiff bristle-like hairs ; 
its prolongation forms a short, stiff, apical awn. The pales are only half as long as the glumes. The 
lower (figs. 3, 5, 6, 8) is five-ribbed, obtuse, and awnless; at times, the midrib is prolonged into a very 
short awn (fig. 5). The upper pale has two keels (figs. 3, 5, 6, 8). The lodicules are two, very small, 
and slightly toothed at the apex (fig. 4). The pistil is composed of a glabrous ovary, a pair of long 
styles, and a pair of feathery stigmas (fig. 4). 
During flowering, the glumes and pales remain closed, and the stamens and stigmas protrude from 
the apex of the spikelet (fig. 2). Fertilization is attained as in Perennial rye-grass. The False fruit 
(figs. 5, 6) is very small, somewhat ovate, closely invested by the pales, which are indurated, smooth 
and shining, of a silver grey colour, and very minute. The average length is 11/2 mm. The caryopsis 
freed from the pales, is roundish, acute at the base, and finely dotted on the surface (fig. 7), The 
embryo is darker in colour, and lies at the side of the acute base (fig. 7), 
The scientific name, translated from the Latin, means »Meadow Cats-tail«. It was called » Timothy « 
after Timothy Hansen, who, in the middle of last century, cultivated it first in Carolina, and later, in 
Virginia. In 1760, Peter Wynch, president of the Agricultural Society of England, obtained the seed of 
this species, along with that of several other grasses, from North America. It soon came into general 
cullivation in England, In 1765, it was recommended in the » Annual Register« and the »Museum Rusti- 
cum« as deserving of more extensive cultivation. Soon after, it was brought into notice on the continent, 
by the Agricultural Societies there. In America it was called at first »Herd-grass«, but in Europe it 
was always known as »Timothy«. It is sometimes called »Cats-tail«, in reference to the tail-like, cylin- 
drical spike. 
