PLATE XVII.
ALOPECURUS BULBOSUS.
Bulbous-rooted Fox-tail.
Spe c . C h a r . Straw slender, upright; root bulbous.
T his singular plant has been found in several situations in the neighbourhood of the sea, but in none
more abundantly than at Yarmouth, Norfolk, and in a little marshy meadow behind the *■ Cinder ovens,’
it vegetates with luxuriance 5 at once remarkable for its slender habit and small lanceolate spike. ——
This plant, and the following species, have been by some botanists considered as bearing a strong
affinity to each other, and that the variations between them were effected only by situation and casual
circumstances; but we think A . bulbosus has full claim to a specific arrangement. -—From the
flexibility and weakness o f the straw this plant has a tendency to become geniculated, but is never
decidedly knee-bent, as is observable in A. geniculatus, nor have we observed the joints to throw out
stoles, as that plant generally does: A. geniculatus will occasionally become club-shaped at the base
of the straw, but never produces the bulbs that we find always attached to this Fox-tail, and the
A. bulbosus is in all respects a weaker plant. When fresh, the bulbs are prettily coloured with
purple.
A, the Calyx.
B, the Corolla.