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ALOPECURUS alpinus.
Alpine Fox-tail-grafs.
TRIANDR1A Digynia.
G en. C har. Cal. o f 2 valves, fingle-flowered. Cor.
o f 1 acute, awned valve.
Spec. C har. Stem eredt, fmooth. Spike ovate.
Glumes o f the calyx downy, without awns, and
nearly as long as the awns o f the corolla.
M r . G. D O N N has favoured us with this new fpecies of
Alopecurus, difcovered by himfelf on mountains about Loch
Nagore in Aberdeenfhire. W e find no defcription to which
it can be certainly referred, although that of ProfefTor Vahl’s
A . antarSlicus, fee Wildenow Sp. JPl. v. 3. 357* agrees in
every point except the length of the arijla, which Vahl de-
fcribes as twice the length of the calyx, whereas in our plant
it is fcarcely at all longer than the calyx. It is not impoflible
that a grafs of the Straits of Magellan fhould alfo grow on the
mountains o f Scotland. Unluckily we want a fpecimen to decide
this point.
A . alpinus has a creeping perennial blackifh root, with
many long fibres. Stem about a foot high, bent at the lowed:
joint, then eredt, Ample, leafy, fmooth in every part. Radical
leaves narrow; thofe on the ftem broader, fhort, flat,
fharp-pointed, fmooth, with long and flightly inflated {heaths,
crowned by very fhort ftipulae. Spike terminal, eredt, ovate,
blunt,fcarcely an inch long,lobed or branched as mA.pratenJis.
Flowers ovate. Calyx glumes united at their bafe, fomewhat
abrupt at the point, purplifh, clothed with foft white hairs.
Corolla of one naked glume, with an awn from its lower part,
which fcarcely (if at all) exceeds the calyx in length.
P h ill lit is -utnculata of Linnaeus, and Phleum GcrarcLi o f
Jacquin, both moft unqueftionably belong to this genus. The
former is diftinguifhed from the fpecies juft defcribed by its
fmooth gibbous calyx, longer awns, and annual root; the
latter by its long-awned calyx and more globular fpike.
F e i/I 3$&3.PuM/ked ly J* l Strwei-b/.Xondcn