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AGROSTIS setacea.
Bristle-leaved Bent-grass.
T R IA N D R IA Digynia.
Gen. Ghar. Cal. o f 2 acute valves, single-flowered.
Cor. o f 2 unequal membranous valves. Stigmas
feathery.
Spec. Char. Calyx lanceolate. Corolla with a bent awn
from its base. Radical leaves bristle-shaped.
Syn. Agrostis setacea. Curt. Lond.fasc. 6. 1 . 12. Sm.
FI. Brit. 79.
A . alpina. With. 128. Hull. 18.
A . canina, /3 et y. Huds. 30, 31.
A . mutabilis. Sibth. 36 ?
T h e first knowledge we ever had of this grass was from the
late Earl of Gainsborough, who brought it from Hampshire.
Mr. Curtis mentions it as very common in the south-west
counties. It grows on dry barren turfy heaths, flowering in
July and August, and though probably eaten by sheep, is considered
as an unimportant object of agriculture.
Root fibrous, perennial. Stem 8 to 12 inches high, spreading,
straight, simple, bearing one or two leaves. Radical leaves
erect, numerous, glaucous, roughish, very narrow, the margin
rolled in so as to make them still narrower, and bristle-shaped:
the stem leaves rather broader, especially in rich ground. Stipula
oblong, white and thin, often torn. Panicle erect, lanceolate,
subdivided, rough. Flowers lanceolate. Calyx-glumes
very narrow, acute, nearly equal, rough, white or purplish.
Corolla much shorter than the calyx, its larger valve cloven,
furnished at the base with a bent rough awn, scarcely extending
beyond the calyx: its lesser very minute, bearing a little
tuft of hairs at the base.