PHLEUM Michelii.
M icM ia n Cat’s-tail Grass.
TRIANDRIA Digynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. of 2, nearly equal, sharp, taper-
pointed valves, single-flowered. Cor. of 2 beardless
valves, included in the calyx, loosely investing
the seed.
Spec. Char. P a n ic le nearly cy lin d rica l, in the form
o f a sp ik e. G lum es o f th e ca ly x lan ceolate,
som ew h at aw n -p oin ted , stro n g ly frin ged , and
hairy.
S y n . P h leum M ic h e lii. Allion. Ped. v. 2 .2 3 3 . Schrad.
Germ. v. 1. 187. t. 1. ƒ . 2.
P . n. 1532. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 2 4 6 .
P h alaris alp in a. Haenke in Jacq. Coll. v. 2. 91 .
Host. Gram. v. 2 . 26 . t. 35 .
G ram eii typ h oid es alp in um , sp ica g ra cilio ri d elicata
et villo sa . Scheucliz. Agr. 65 . Hall. Enum. 10.
n. 2 6 4 .
D I S C O V E R E D b y Mr. G . Don on rocky parts o f the high
mountains o f Clova, Angusshire. His specimen agrees with
authentic Austrian, Swiss and Italian ones, sept us long ago b y
the various authors who have mentioned this curious alpine
grass, except in being less luxuriant, owing probably to its
more northern, or more barren, place o f growth. So rare an
acquisition to our Flora cannot but be h igh ly welcome. W e
scruple not to refer it to Phleum, as we have adopted'the
learned Schrader’s improved character o f Phalaris; seep. 402.
given at the end o f vol. 30. Our t. 222 and 459 should be
transferred to Phleum likewise.
T h e root is perennial, tufted, or slightly creeping. Stems a
foot or more in height, slender, smooth, erect, leafy more than
h a lf w a y up . Leaves flat, pointed, rough-edged; their
sheaths smooth, the upper ones especially lax or inflated. Sti-
pula short, blunt. Panicle upright, cylindrical or slightly
ovate, dense, resembling a spike, various in length, green,
with more or less o f a purple tinge. Calyx-glumes equal,
exactly lanceolate,' and not abrupt at their inner edge, with
sharp, rigid, often inflexed points, their keel strongly fringed,
and ribs and sides rough, with white hairs. Valves o f the
corolla fringed also, unequal, obtuse, shorter than the ca ly x .
Stigmas slender, and loosely feathered.