yß& [ 729 ]
BROMUS fylvaticus.
Slender JVood Brome-grafs.
T R I AN D RIA Digynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. o f 2 valves. Spihlet oblong, 2-ranked.
Awn from below the top. Inner hvjk fringed.
Spec. Char. Spike fimple, drooping, leaning one
way. Spikelets feffile, roundifh. Awns longer
than their hulk. Leaves hairy.
Syn. Bromus fylvaticus. Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 4. 300.
Sm. FI. Brit. 136. Hull. 16.
Feftuca fylvatica. Hudf. ed. 1. 38. With. 158.
Rett. 44. Sibth. 46. Marl. Fl. Ruß. t. 1x4.
Dickf. H. Sicc. fafc. 13. 9.
Gramen avenaceum dumetorum fpicatum. Raii Syn.
394-
L REQUENT in copfes and thickets by the tides of thady
lanes, more efpecially on a gravelly or fandy foil, flowering in
July, when its flender form, riling above the furrounding
herbage, renders it confpicuous'. It becomes ftill more fo in
the latter part of fummer by afluming a yellowith or tawny hue,
efpecially in the lower leaves. It is of no. agricultural ufe.
The root is fibrous, tufted, perennial. Stem 2 feet or more
in height, round, leafy, fmoothifh, tapering, very flender and
a little drooping in the upper part. Leaves fpreading, flat,
pointed, a little rigid, rough, ribbed, more or lefs hairy, bright
green. Sheaths ftraight, clofe, hairy. Stipula fhort, blunt,
torn. Spike fimple, drooping, zigzag, formed of 6 or 7 alternate,
feffile, cylindrical, linear-lanceolate fpikelets, all inclining
towards one fide, generally downy. Glumes of the calyx
unequal, tipped with ffiort awns. Florets from 6 to 9, imbricated,
at length a little fpreading and fomewhat cylindrical, in
the upper part ftrongly ribbed and rough. Awn terminal,
rough, generally much longer than the glume. Inner glume
blunt, fringed with rigid briftles, on which I am perfuaded the
effential character of Bromus depends more than on the infer-
tion of thé awn.