B R O M U S fecalinus.
Smooth Rye Brome-grafs.
TRIANDRIA Digynia.
G en. C har. Cal. of 2 valves. Spikelet oblong, 2-
ranked. Awn from below the top. Inner hujk.
fringed.
Spec. C har. Panicle fpreading ; {talks but little
branched. Spikelets ovate, compreflèd, of about
ten 'diftinâ, fomewhat cylindrical, florets.
Svisr. Bromus fecalinus. Linn. Sp. PI. 112. Sm. FI.
Brit. 125. Tr. o f Linn. Soc. v. 4. 281. Hull. 24.
Relh. 39. Abbot. 22.
B . polymorphic y . Hudf. 49. With. 159. var. 2.
Feftuca avenacea, fpicis habitioribus, glumis glabris.
Rail Syn. 4 x 4 .
S lN C E the fpecies of this difficult genus have became better
known to botanifts, the B . fecalinus has been obferved in
corn-fields in various parts of Britain. In Norfolk it often occurs.
Our fpecimens were fent from Copgrove near Knares-
borough by the Rev. Mr. Dalton, in the middle of September
1802.
The root is annual. Stem about 3 feet high, Ample, round,
fmooth and leafy. Leaves broadilh, flat, ribbed; rough at
the edge and underneath; clothed above with thort foft hairs:
their {heaths furrowed, but not rough. Stipula very ftiort.
Panicle various in luxuriance, but the branches are generally
not much fubdivided; they grow upright, at length fpreading,
and curved down by the ripe fpikelets, which are fmooth,
ovate, flat, compofed ot 8 or 10, rarely 13 florets, fo far fe-
parated at their bafe when ripe that the common (talk appears
between them. Each floret is nearly cylindrical, fmooth,
rarely downy, marked with 7 flight.ribs, and bearing from its
back a rough fliortifh awn. The inner hufks are toothed rather
than fringed. In an early ftate the florets are flatter and
more imbricated, fo that this fpecies. may then be confounded
with B. racemofus, t. 1079. For want of attending to their
different ftages o f growth Mr. Hudfon has been led into great
errors..