MAT-GRASS 127 



produced on the rachilla. There are 3 stamens, with bluish-black 

 anthers, distinct styles, and feathery stigmas. The flowers are pollin- 

 ated by the wind. The stigma and anthers ripen together. The 

 (lower opens between 5 and 6 a.m. 



The fruit is light and easily blown away by the wind. 



The Heath Hair Grass is turfophilous, growing on humus soil. 

 The name Deschampsia, Beauv., is in commemoration of a French 

 chemist, M. H. Deschamps. The second Latin name refers to the 

 wavy panicle. 



Essential Specific Characters: — 



334. Deschampsia flcxuosa, Trin. — Stem smooth, erect, leaves fili- 

 form, solid, terete, upper sheaths roughish, panicle spreading, wavy, 

 the spikelets e.xceeding the awn. 



Mat-grass (Nardus stricta, L.) 



Though an Arctic type of grass this species is not met with in early 

 deposits, but is found in Temperate and Arctic Europe, the Azores, 

 and Greenland. In Great Britain it is found in every county except 

 Hunts, Northampton, E. Gloucs, as far north as the Shetlands, and 

 up to 3300 ft. in the Highlands, as well as in Ireland and the Channel 

 Islands. 



Mat-grass is one of the most typical of heath grasses. It forms 

 patches, as the English name suggests, of wide extent, to the exclusion 

 of all else, on heaths and commons, in the south as well as the north, 

 and on various formations. It grows also at different elevations, and 

 is prevalent not only on stony but also on sandy and even peaty for- 

 mations. 



The plant is densely ca^spitose, or tufted, with a cushion of close, 

 rigid, radical leaves, and stems which are erect, rigid, finely furrowed, 

 angular, with long sheaths. The leaves below are nearly horizontal. 

 The sheaths are smooth, and the ligule is short. 



The spike is bristle-like, solitary, straight, and turned one way, 

 with a slender rachis. The spikelets are distant, the flowering glume 

 is purple and slender, the lower palea has a rough awn, and is short. 

 The flowering glume is rough after flowering. 



Mat-grass is 6-8 in. in height. The flowers are at their best in 

 July. The grass is perennial, propagated by roots. 



The spikelets are arranged in a single row, and turned one way. 

 There are 3 stamens, the stigma is hairy and does not fall, slender and 

 thread-like, and the spikelets somewhat distant. The plant is anemo- 



