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«OTAfXlV*AL 



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T R I 31 E N • S 



JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 



(Siigmal .avticlts. 



ON SPABTINA TOWXSENDI, Groves. 



By Henry and Jajies Groves. 



(Tab. 225.) 



Since the publication of our original description of Spartma 

 Townsendi, in the Report of the Botanical Exchange Club, we 

 have had an opportunity of exaraiuing a larger number of 

 specimens of the allied species, and, as we are publishing a 

 plate of it, think it desirable to give a fuller description. 



Spartina Townsendi, H. & J. Groves, in Report of Botanical 

 Exchange Club for 1880-1881, p. 37.— Rootstock stout. Stem 

 stout, nearly erect, 1|— 4 ft. in height. Leaves all falling short of 

 the spikes ; sheath strongly ribbed ; lamina 5-12 in. long, nearly 

 flat, broadest at the base (sometimes over f in.), jointed to the 

 sheath. Panicle sometimes as much as 11 in. long, somewhat 

 sxDreading. Spikes usually 4-9, 4-7 in. long, flattened. Rachis 

 flexuous, triangular, produced beyond the top of the last spikelet, 

 often as much as f in. Spikelets 15-30, imbricate but not 

 crowded, about half their own length apart. Glumes ciliate on the 

 keel and often slightly pubescent, faintly ribbed, unequal, the 

 larger |-f in. long, broadly lanceolate, the smaller lanceolate ; 

 pales sHghtly pubescent. 



The present species differs fi'om -S'. stncta in being 2-3 times 



the height, in the more erect and much stouter stem, the flatness of 



the leaves, the very large and somewhat spreading panicle, the 



greater number of the spikelets, and the considerable production of 



CsJ the rachis ; from 6'. alternijiora by the shorter upper leaves, the 



^^ more strongly striate sheaths, jointed to the broader-based laminae, 



the longer lower spikes, broader rachis, larger spikelets, with more 



' lanceolate glumes, which are much less distinctly keeled and 



ribbed, and more pubescent. 



S? Dr. Boswell has suggested that our plant is the true S. (jlahra, 



2 Muhl., but Muhlenberg's description, in his * Descript. uber. 



Graminum et plant. Calam. Amer. Sept.' (1817) p. 54, seems to 



point to S. alternijiora, although he adds thereto, *' Variat spicis 



2 erectis, terminali pedunculata altera sessilis, quae stricta Smith 



N. s. VOL. 11. [January, 1882.] b 



