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E L Y M U S europaeus.
Wood Lyme-grass.
TRIANDRIA Digynia.
G en. Char. Cal. lateral, aggregate, of 2 valves, containing
(mostly) several flowers.
Spec. C har. Spike erect. Spikelets two-flowered,
bearded. C a ly x without furrows.
Syn. Elymus europseus. Linn. Mant. 35. Sm. FI.
Brit. 154. With. 1 7 0 . Hull. 27. 'Sibth. 5 1 .
Hordeum sylvaticum. ILuds. 57. Abb at. 27. Mart..
Rust. t. 45.
Gramen secalinum majus sylvaticum. Rail Syn. 392.
A N A T I V E o f w o o d s and th ic k e t s o n a c h a lk y s o il. W e h a v e
r e c e iv ed it from Y o r k s h i r e and o th e r parts of E n g la n d , flo w e r in
g in J u n e .
Root perennial, fibrous, rather tufted, downy. Stems about
2 feet high, erect, straight, simple, leafy ; naked, smooth and
striated ahove. Leaves lanceolate, sharp-pointed, flat, ribbed,
broadish, rough; their sheaths ribbed, more or less rough with
deflexed hairs. Stipula very short, crenate. Spike erect, or
a little inclining, straight, close, 2 or 3 inches long; its main
stalk zigzag, angular, furrowed, rough. Spikelets in alternate
parcels of 3 together, erect, each with a 2-valved, parallel,
equal, linear calyx, very smooth and even at the base, angular
and rougliish above, tipped with a long rough awn. Florets.
1 , or mostly 2, on short stalks, all generally perfect and fertile,
lanceolate, awned, ribbed and roughish at the summit,
broader than the calyx-valves, but about as long; their inner
glumes beardless. Germen downy.
T h i s is a h a r sh g ra s s , o f n o k n o w n u se in a g r ic u ltu r e , n o r
d o e s i t ap p e a r to h a v e b e en a tten d ed to b y a n y e xp e r im en ta l
fa rm e r .