How to know Grasses by their Leaves

Abstract

THIS little book will be a valuable aid to agriculturists and agricultural students. It is small, and adapted for carrying in a side pocket. It comes out seasonably, as the time is fast approaching in which its teaching may be verified in the field. It fills a gap in our knowledge of grasses, as botanists usually decide species by the inflorescence, rather than by the leaves. Colour, habit of growth, and form of leaf, are, we know, somewhat variable characters, and cannot always be relied upon; and in questions relating to the absolute identification of species, no doubt, inflorescence is of first importance. There is, however, a practical knowledge which derives immense benefit from the kind of information contained in Mr. M'Alpine's work, and after having determined approximately the component parts of a pasture in the young state, it is open to the observer to wait for further proof in the spike or panicle, which will in due time appear. A grass-field contains a larger number of species, not only of grasses but of clovers, other leguminous plants, and miscellaneous herbage, belonging to the Compositæ, Umbelliferæ, Rosaceæ, and other natural orders. This book treats solely of the grasses, and clearly, and with the help of 200 figures, shows how any person may identify grasses in the leafy stage. “The difficulties connected with the identification of grasses in the flowerless condition,” says Mr. M'Alpine, “are not at all so great as usually supposed.” This is good news from the botanist of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, Professor of Botany in the New Veterinary College, Edinburgh, and translator of Stebler's “Best Forage Plants. ” The great and varied knowledge of Mr. M'Alpine, is in itself a guarantee that the distinctions he has traced between the blades and stems of grasses are not of a hasty or flimsy character. Many of them are new to us, but others we have noticed ourselves, and know them to be correct. Any one furnished with a copy of this little book, and a small magnifier, will find that an additional interest will be communicated to walks in the fields, and the question as to the nature of the growing herbage of pastures may be satisfactorily answered. An eye trained to observation will be able to detect slight differences better than the eye which sees not, but we feel confidence that a careful examination of the plates and the letterpress of this little book will, if used in the field, be in itself a training in habits of observation. The book should be in the hands of every agricultural student, as it in due time will become the basis of questions at examinations. The facts that Mr. M'Alpine is himself a teacher, and that Prof. Wallace, of Edinburgh University, has written the preface, point to this conclusion.

How to know Grasses by their Leaves.

By A. N. M'Alpine. (Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1890.)