TRIANDRIA— DIGYNIA. Spartina. 135 



rough at the keel. Florets 3 or 4, rarely solitary ; common 

 stalk smooth. Outer valve of the cor. 5 -ribbed, rough at the 

 keel, with a short awn-like point ; inner fringed at the ribs. 

 Anth. pale violet, pendulous. 

 In shady places, orchards, &c., this is a har.sh coarse grass, not 

 very acceptable to cattle j but when cultivated on dry open 

 land, its quality becomes excellent, and the crop of tufted radi- 

 cal leaves abundant. 



49. SPARTINA. Cord-grass. 



Schreb. Gen. 43. Muhlenh. Gram. 53. Bcauv. Agr. 25. t. 7.f. (J. 

 Limnetis. Richard. — Nuttall Gen. 38. 



Cal. single-flowered, of 2 unequal, compressed, lanceolate, 

 keeled, clasping valves ; the outer one sometimes smallest, 

 narrow and pointless ; sometimes largest, w itli a rough, 

 straight, terminal awn; inner cloven at the summit, with 

 more or less of an intermediate tooth, or point. Cor. about 

 the length and shape of the cal. of 2 lanceolate, bluntish, 

 clasping, compressed, awnless valves, the innermost ra- 

 ther the longest. Ncct. none. Filam. capillary, not so long 

 as the cor. Anth. erect, linear, entire at the top, cloven a^ 

 the base. Gm«. elliptic-lanceolate. ^/^-^ combined a great 

 part of their whole length, separate at the top. Stigmas 

 feadiery, slender, various in length. Seed, oblong, com- 

 pressed, clothed with the unaltered corolla, but quite loose. 



Hard, rigid, smooth, perennial, maritime grasses, with com- 

 pound, close, unilateral spikes of numerous/ottW5. This 

 genus is closely allied to Dactijlis, under which it has been 

 included by Linnaeus and most botanists ; but a compari- 

 son of their characters, given above, will prove them very 

 distinct. Schreber places Spartina in Triandria Mono- 

 gynia ; but a partial, or temporary, combination of the 

 2 styles of true Grasses is so common, and so various in 

 species of the same genus, that it is best not to take it too 

 strictly. There can be no reason to change the great 

 Schreber's original name for Limnetis. 



1. ^.striata. Twin-spiked Cord-grass. 



Spikes two or dn-ee, erect, with very smooth stalks. Glumes 



downy. Outer valve of the calyx smallest. 

 Dactylis stricta. Soland. in Ait. H. Kcw. ed. \.v.\. 101 TViUd 



V. 1 . 407. Fl. Br. 1 1 0. Engl. Bot. v. fi. t. 380. With. J 41). /. 27. 



Knapp t. 63. 

 D. (-ynosuroidcs, Ilud.s. 43. Loe/t. It. Hi.sp. 1 15. 

 Spartum Esbe.\ianum,spica gcniina clau-sa. Dill, in Rail Si/n. 3P3. 



