Canary  grass  is  a  native  of  the  Canary  Islands,  and
may  often  be  seen  in  waste  places.  It  has  flowers
very  similar  to  the  preceding,  and  belongs  to  the
same  species.  Cattle  devour  it  when  young,  but
being  an  annual,  and  not  a  very  luxuriant  grower,  it
is  not  of  much  value  as  a  forage  crop.  It  yields  from
thirty  to  forty  bushels  of  seeds  per  acre,  which  are  ex-
tensively used  in  feeding  canary  birds.
FIORIN — WHITE   CLOVER.  207

PIORIN,    BENT   Q"RA&8.~-(Agros&  alba.)

Stem  hollow  or  soon  becoming  so,  spikelets  in  panicles,  sometimes

crowded,  but  never  so  as  to  form
a  spike,  flowers  one  and  perfect  in
each  spikelet,  with  or  without  ru-
diments of  oth'ers,  stamens  three,
rarely  fewer,  stems  with  procum-
bent or  creeping  base,  ligule  long
and  conspicuous,  panicle  more
dense,  greenish  or  slightly  purplish.
Perennial.
Florin  is  quite  popular  in
England  as  a  meadow  grass,
and  is  known  as  'Bent  grass7
or  White  Bent.  It  belongs
to  the  same  family  as  the
herds  grass,  and  is  very  like
it.  It  is  nourishing,  and
makes  a  good  grass  for  pas-
tures. In  Tennessee  it  can-
not hold  rank  with  many
others  as  a  meadow  grass,  but
it  is  of  sufficient  value  to  de-
serve mention.
WHITE  CLOVEB.-(!ZH/b/mmrepens.)

Its  stems  are  spreading,  slender,  creeping;  leaves  inversely  heart-
shaped;  flower  heads  small,  white;  pods  four-seeded,. roots  perennial;
flowers  from  May  to  September.
White  Clover  has  been  lauded  to  the  skies  by  some,  and
by  others  depreciated  as  a  vile  weed.  It  is  beyond  question
next  to  blue  grass,  one  of  our  most  valuable  grazing  plants.
Its  analysis  shows  it  to  be  equal  to  red  clover  in  most  re-
spects, and  superior  as  a  fat  producing  plant


208


THE   GRASSES   OF    TENNESSEE.
