5l6 The Natural History of British Grasses. 



There are several other species, but they have no particular 

 agricultural value. 



AmmoPHILA — spike compact, glumes of nearly equal pointed 

 valves, with a tuft of hairs at the base, including the 

 glumel. — P. 



A. arundinacea — sea-reed, mat-grass — remarkable for its creep- 

 ing rhizome, which we have obtained of as much as 30 feet in 

 length. It is a common denizen of the sea-side, and, from its 

 peculiar growth, it operates very beneficially in keeping together 

 the sands of the coast, on which account it is carefully looked 

 after and preserved by Act of Parliament. It may be worth a 

 trial in some of the deep railway cuttings, especially where these 

 occur in sandy clay, which renders them peculiarly liable to give 

 way either from the rain of the Avet season or the cracking 

 which succeeds from the drought of summer. It is readily cul- 

 tivated by joints or cuttings of the rhizome. 



It is of no agricultural value, as its coarse, rigid, sapless herbage 

 is untouched by cattle. 



PhALARIS — glumes of erect equal keeled valves, including 

 the gliimely which adheres to and becomes part of the 

 seed. 

 P. canariensis — canary-grass — flowers in an oval spike — an 

 annual grass, occurring in waste places and about the homestead, 

 and probably introduced from its use as a food for canaries and 

 other small birds, on which account it is cultivated in the neigh- 

 bourhood of London and some of our larger towns for its seed. 

 Its cultivation is exceedingly easy, alight soil with a fine " tilth" 

 .being almost the only condition required. We have seen good 

 crops on both elevated and low lands, as it is a grass which en- 

 dures great variations of climate. 



P. arundinacea — reed canary-grass — flowers more or less 

 densely paniculate. A perennial species, usually growing in 

 water, in which it extends rapidly by its thick rhizome. Its 

 occurrence in hedge-rows and meadows is a sign of great damp, 

 which would be improved by drainage, when the species soon 

 dies out. It is of no agricultural use ; its rhizome, however, 

 occasionally renders it of value in keeping up river-banks ; but 

 it is oftener injurious, as spreading into watercourses, and thus 

 vitiating a system of drainage by arresting the equable flow in 

 the main or trunk channels. 



tt Flowers paniculate, more or less lax. 



Agrostis — glumes of two unequal valves longer than the 

 glumel, the inner valve of which is sometimes absent, the 

 outer either awned or awnless. 



