AGROSTIS VULGARIS. { ^ „ 7 '
Common Bent.
Spec. Char. Calyx with one valve serrated in the upper part, the other smooth;
branches bare at the base.
The Agrostis vulgaris inhabits our diy and sandy sheep pastures almost invariably, and in those places
is observable by its fine and hair-like panicle branches: the florets are highly coloured, a circumstance
common to this genus, and to grasses growing in arid situations, and all the gradations o f pink and
purple seem to be acquired by those o f an unsucculent nature upon their advance to maturity. This
Agrostis is often found existing in elevated and stony places,, or on dry heathy land, possessing in a
very dwarf state all the characters of the taller plant, and has been arranged as a species under the
nams of Agrostis pumila (Fig. 2): this diminutive plant furnishes an abundance of seed, which to the
eye appear plump and healthy, and fitting for germination, but upon examination will be found to
be blighted, and filled with a black infertile powder; this variety is not simply the effect o f drought,
as the same situations in all respects produce healthy plants, but is probably occasioned by some injury
the plant has received in a young state, or by the puncture of an insect when more advanced in age.
------The leaves o f A. vulgaris are commonly finer and more slender than any other species of the
genus excepting A. setacea, and in moist places, or in rainy seasons, and even in dry stations towards
autumn, we find the roots covered with numerous attenuated pale green leaves, giving a very delicate
appearance to the whole plant, and in this state is probably the Agrostis tenuis of the Flora Oxon.
| This common Bent-grass is perhaps of little value in the first stages of its growth, but towards
the end o f summer, and in the autumnal months, it furnishes much sweet herbage, and becomes
partially stoloniferous, affording in those seasons a welcome and palatable pasturage to the close
nibbling sheep.
A, the Calyx Valves.
B, the Corolla.
C, the Seed of A. pumila.
(See supplementary Plates.)