[ 73° ]
B R O M U S p in n a tu s .
Spiked Heath Brome- grafs.
*./<*ĥ
TRIAN D ' R I A Dlgynia.
G en. Char. Cal. of 2 valves. Spikeletoblong, 2-ranked.
Awn from below the top. Inner hujk fringed.
Spec. C har. Spike limple, eredt, two-ranked. Spike-
lets feffile, rounditb. Awns fhorter than their
hufk. Leaves almoft naked.
Syn . Bromus pinnatus. Linn. Sp>. PL 115. Tr. of
Linn. Soc. v. 4. 301. Sm. FI. Brit. 137. Hiulf.
ed. 1. 4 1 . Hull. 26.
Feftuca pinnata. Hudf. 48. Relh. 44. Sibth. 46.
Abbot. 22. Dickf. H. Sicc.fafc. 13. 8.
Gramen fpica Brizae majus. Raii Syn. 392.
n n JL HIS grafs is found on open commons or heaths in a free-
ftone fo il; not unfrequently in Yorkfhire, Oxfordfhire and
Kent, but rarely elfewhere. It is perennial, and flowers in July.
Many botanifts have united it with the preceding; but its
greater fmoothnefs, firmnefs and rigidity, indeed its whole
afpedt, feem to authorize a fpecific diftinction.
The root is fomewhat creeping. Stem hardly 2 feet high,
very fmooth, altogether erefit, and fcarcely tapering in the upper
part. Leaves very rarely clothed with a few hairs on the upper
fide. Sheaths quite fmooth and poliflied. Spikelets in 2 ranks,
and not leaning to one fide, long, linear, a little downy. Calyx-
glumes rather elliptical, many-nerved. Florets more numerous
than in B . fylvaticus, clofely imbricated. Awn terminal
as in that fpecies, which induced Mr. Hudfon and others to
refer both to the genus Feftuca. This awn in the prefent plant
is fhorter than its glume; fometimes fo fhort as to be hardly
vifible. Inner glume very blunt, fringed with ftrong rigid
briftles, not merely downy as in true Feftuca,— This grafs is
even lefs fit for the food of cattle than the laft.