TRIANDRIA— MONOGYNIA.— Nardus. 71 



Common receptacle linear, toothed, unilateral. Flowers al- 

 ternate, sessile, all directed one way, perfect. Col. none, 

 except a slight border from the recept. Cor. a glume of 

 2 unequal, lanceolate, pointed, concave valves ; the outer 

 one largest, embracing the other. Filam. capillary, 

 shorter than the corolla. Anth. oblong. Germ, superior, 

 oblong, slender. Style 1, short. Stigma 1, long, feathery. 

 Seed 1, linear, pointed at each end, invested with the per- 

 manent corolla. 



A small genus of hard, rigid, slender, smooth grasses, with 

 simple, upright or curved, many-flowered sjiikes. 



1. N. stricta. Common Mat-grass. 



Spike bristle-shaped, straight. Leaves thrice the length of 

 their sheaths. 



N. stricta. Linn. Sp. PL 77. Willd. u. I. 314. Vahl Enum. v. 2. 



396. Fl.Br.6\. Engl. Bot. v. 5. t. 290. Knappt.2. Mart. 



Rust. t. 27. Hook. Scot. 2 1 . Cavan. Tc. v. 3. 2. t. 204./. 2. Leers 



11. t. l.f.7. Schreb. Gram. 65. t.7. Ft, Dan. t. 1022. Schratl. 



Germ.v. 1. 157. Sincl. 171. 

 N. n. 1410. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 201. 

 Gramen sparteum juncifolium. Bauh. Theatr. 60. f. 70. Scheuchz. 



Agr. 90. t. 2./. 10. Raii Syn. 293. 

 G. sparteum, capillaceo folio, minus. Moris, v. 3. 21 7. sect. 8. t. 7. 



/.8. 

 Spartum nostras parvum. Lob. Ic. 90. f. Ger. Em. 41./. 1631. 



On barren, sandy, rather moist, heaths and moors. 



Perennial. July. 



Root of numerous, very strong, downy fibres. Stems and leaves 

 furrowed, roughish with minute bristles, rigid, 4 or 5 inches high, 

 remaining bleached through the winter. Spikes solitary, purplish, 

 of many slender Jlowers, whose outermost glume is tipped with 

 a short rough awn. Schrank celebrates this deep-rooted grass 

 as a safe support to the hands of the alpine botanist, in precipi- 

 tous situations, though it renders his path very slippery. 



