. Handbook of grasses, treating of their structure, classification, geographical distribution and uses, also describing the British species and their habitats. Grasses. MEADOWS AND PASTURES 19 agreeable scent to hay : its flavour is bitter and aromatic. Flower- ing from early May to July. Alopecurus pratensis, the Meadow Foxtail (fig. 36), comes next into flower. The rootstock has very short stolons ; leaves flat, rather broad, tapering above, with flattish ribs, pale green ; ligule truncate, scarcely as long as broad ; basal sheaths purplish-brown. Culms 2-3 ft. Panicle spike-like, cylindric,
. Handbook of grasses, treating of their structure, classification, geographical distribution and uses, also describing the British species and their habitats. Grasses. MEADOWS AND PASTURES 19 agreeable scent to hay : its flavour is bitter and aromatic. Flower- ing from early May to July. Alopecurus pratensis, the Meadow Foxtail (fig. 36), comes next into flower. The rootstock has very short stolons ; leaves flat, rather broad, tapering above, with flattish ribs, pale green ; ligule truncate, scarcely as long as broad ; basal sheaths purplish-brown. Culms 2-3 ft. Panicle spike-like, cylindric, dense, 2-3 inches long, obtuse at both ends, pale green and silky. Spikelets about \ inch long, compressed, l-flowered ; empty glumes united at the base, and the keel fringed with long, soft hairs ; flowering glume with a bent dorsal awn twice its length; no palea. Perennial, flowering from middle of May to August. Bromits mollis, the Soft Brome (fig. 14), is a tufted annual or biennial. The culms are 1-2 feet high ; leaves flat, rather broadly linear-lanceolate, greyish-green. All parts of the plant are clothed with soft hairs. Panicle erect, rather compact, with short branches, some of which bear only one spikelet. Spikelets -J-f inch long, conical above; greyish-green, 6- to lo-flowered ; glumes closely imbricate, pubescent; flower- ing ones broad, rounded on the back, and with the margin distinctly obtusely angular above the middle, notched at the tip, and with a sub-terminal, straight awn about their own length ; nerves of palea ciliated ; upper part of ovary hairy, and styles lat- eral. Flowering from the latter part of May to August. Starved states of B. mollis, with culms a few inches high, and only 2-3 spikelets, or even a solitary one, may often be seen in dry places. Poapratensis, the Smooth Meadow-grass (fig. 7), has an extensively creeping root- stock producing numerous stolons. Leaves flat, rather narrowly linear, keeled, but not evidently ribbed, bright green; s
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectgrasses, bookyear1910
