Page:Wayside and Woodland Blossoms.djvu/87

Rh name, which is derived from the Latin Senex—an old man. There are other eight British species, of which the most frequent are briefly noted below.

The structure of grass-flowers has been already described, and the reader should refer back to page. The inflorescence is a spike, the spikelets arranged in two rows, with their edges to the stem, which is channelled. There is only one outer glume, which is strongly ribbed, and shorter than the spikelet. The flowering glumes number from six to ten, or more.

This is one of the grasses that send forth leafy runners, which root and occupy surrounding ground. It is one of the most valuable to the farmer, on account of it early ripening, and its usefulness either for permanent pasture or for cropping. With good management as many as four crops may be obtained in one year. It grows in all waste places, and flowers in May.