S4S ELTMUS. [class III. oaDEa O. 



short foolstalt ; the lower floret hearing stamens only, and naked ; the 

 upper with stamens and pistils, and the footstalks clothed with white 

 and shining hairs, at first short, afterwards much elongated and spread- 

 ing, giving the elegant waving panicle a beautiful silky appearance. 

 Glumellcs unequal, linear-lanceolate : the outer valve hrownish-purple, 

 ■with a keel and two lateral ribs, the margins membranous : the inna' 

 short, pale, thin, membranous, with two lateral roughish ribs, the apex 

 tifid. Sti'jmas densely feathery. Fruit small, enclosed in the glu- 

 melles, but loose. 



Habitat. — On the banks of lakes and rivers, the margins of pools 

 and marshy situations; abuuelant. 



Perennial ; flowering in July. 



This is the largest of our native grasses, growing abundantly on the 

 banks of many rivers, where it is encouraged on account of its long, 

 creeping, underground stems, which are of great use in confining the 

 banks, and preventing their being so much washed away by the action 

 of the ruuning stream. The tough, hard stems are extensively used 

 for thatching cottages, and for the ceilings and floors of dwellings, which 

 are afterwards covered over with plaster, &c. It is used for making 

 fences, and by artists to make reed-pens for sketching. In some parts 

 of England, particularly on the eastern side, extensive tracts of this 

 plant occur, which harbour many aquatic birds, and others which feed 

 •upon insects, and maybe seen often in great numbers, actively engaged 

 in their sportive movements. Some exotic species of Aruiidt) have a 

 great tendency to become arborescent. The A. dona.v, a native of the 

 South of Europe, has much stronger and stouter stems than our spe- 

 cies, and is used for vine-poles, fishing-rods, Sec. ; for the latter and 

 other purposes, they are exported from Spain and Portugal into this 

 country in considerable quantities. The Reed has from time imme- 

 iQorial been regarded as the pastoral instrument of music : 

 " Arcadian pipe, the pastoral reed 

 Of Hermes." Mitxoy. 



Pan, the god of shepherds, is said in mythological history to have been 

 enamoured of the beautiful Syrinx, and to have pursued her one daj 

 to the borders of the river Ladon, in Arcadia. The nymph implored 

 ihe help of the river, which received her into its waters, and metamor- 

 phosed her into Reeds. Pan, in the bitterness of his disappointment, 

 s recorded to have cut several of these Reeds of difi'ercnt sizes, and 

 formed of them the first shepherd's pipe. Hence has arisen the name 

 of Pandean pipe. 



GENUS XLV. ELY'MUS. Linn. Lyme-grass. 



©EN. Char. Inflorescence spiked. Spikelet4 two or three from the 

 same point, two or throo-flowered. Glumes two, both on one Bid« 



