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Giving evidence recently before the Royal Commission on Coast 

 Erosion, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu is reported as follows : " The 

 mud-banks on his property had recently been increasing very 

 rapidly. The accretion was due to a somewhat extraordinary fact. 

 Some years ago a ship came up Southampton Water from the 

 River Plate with a quantity of rice-grass on board. The seeds of 

 this grass became distributed about the shores of Southampton 

 Water, with the result that the whole of that estuary was now 

 covered with this grass. It was a plant which grew very rapidly 

 and spread in circles, and now the 20 miles from Hurst Castle to 

 Southampton were covered with this grass, as were the mud-banks 

 on his foreshore. The stiff and sharp points caught the seaweed 

 which came over it, causing the bank to increase rapidly in height 

 . . . . There was no knowledge of the grass, so far as he 

 could understand, up to 10 years ago." 



To anyone knowing the vegetation of the coast of Southampton 

 Water, it was evident that the grass in question must be a member 

 of the genus Spartina, though the names " rice-grass " and " sea- 

 rice " are unknown in botanical literature, and unknown we 



believe, to those most versed in the popular names of British 

 plants. 



Supplementary to his evidence before the Commission, Lord 

 Montagu sent to Kew some old culms and some living clumps of 

 the grass with a view to its identification and for any particulars 

 that could be given of its history and origin. 



The fact that some botanists now recognise three distinct species 

 of Spartina in the British Flora, whilst others regard the three 

 recognisable English Spartinas as varieties, or sometimes only as 

 forms hardly entitled to rank as varieties of one snecies, rendered 

 it necessary to reply in some detail, though it (s by no means 

 unlikely that the local names cover the three, whatever status be 

 given them. The subject is perhaps of sufficient importance for 

 us to put on record here the substance of the reply made to 

 Lord Montagu and other inquirers, together with some additional 

 particulars of a more technical character. 



Whether the three forms of Spartina be regarded as distinct 

 species or as only varieties or forms of one species, is of minor 

 importance. But from the practical standpoint it is well, if they 

 can be distinguished at all, to indicate clearly how they differ 

 because of the possible possession by one or the other of the 

 species," as they will for the sake of convenience be here termed, 

 of greater vegetative vigour than the rest, thus rendering a parti- 

 cular form of more importance than the others, so far as mud- 

 binding is concerned. 



The alleged distinctive characters of the three species, all of 

 which grow in Southampton Water, are extracted from the ninth 

 edition of Babington's " Manual of British Botany " (1901), edited 

 by H. and J. Groves, who have made a special study of the genus 

 Spartina, as represented in the United Kingdom. 



1. S. stricta, Roth ; leaves jointed to their sheaths, falling short 

 of the spikes ; spikelets 2 or 3 ; rachis scarcely extending beyond 

 the last spikelet, outer glume hairy. Stem 1-2 feet high. Leaves 



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