/ z C A IR A canescens.
Grey Hair-grass.
TRIANDRIA Digynia.
G en. Char. Cal. of 2 valves, 2-flowered. Cor. of 2
valves. Florets without any imperfect one between
them.
Spec. Char. Leaves slender and tapering. Stem leafy.
Panicle dense. Awns swelling upwards, scarcely
longer than the calyx.
Syn. Aira canescens. Linn. Sp. PI. 97. Sm. FI. Brit. 86.
Huds. 36. With. 137. t. 24. Hull. 20. Dicks. Dr.
PI. 4 .
Gramen miliaceum maritimum molle. D ill, in Raii
Syn. 405.
A. N A TIVE of sandy pastures near the sea, but we know not
that it has been found on any other than the eastern coasts. On
Yarmouth Denes it abounds, as well as in similar stations on
the opposite Dutch shore. It flowers in July and August, and
is perennial.
The roots consist of long capillary fibres, and produce thick
tufts of upright, stiff, bristle-shaped, glaucous leaves, often
tinged with a purplish hue, evidently rough when examined
with a microscope. Among these spring up several stems,
various in height and direction, with many bent reddish joints
in their slender lower part, the upper invested with the long
sheaths of 2 or 3 leaves. The naked part of the stem is smooth.
The stipulae are lanceolate. The panicle is dense, erect, much
branched, rather inclining to one side, of a glaucous silvery hue
tinged with purple. Calyx-glumes sharp and rough, longer
than the florets. Florets with a tuft of hair at their base, and
one of them raised on a little stalk. Awn from the base of the
outer petal, of a very singular construction, its lower half
being twisted, of a tawny hue, and crowned with a tuft of
minute bristles; its upper straight, white, and more or less
club-shaped. The purple antherse add much to the beauty of
the panicle.