192 



narrowing to the base, where they easily separate from their 



sheaths. Spikes pressed close together. A remarkably rigid 

 plant. 



2. S. Toivnsendi, Groves ; leaves jointed to their sheaths, falling 

 short of the spikes ; spikelets 4-9 ; rachis produced beyond the spike- 

 lets and flexuose ; outer glumes slightly downy. Stem 1^-4 feet 

 high. Leaves broadest at base. Spikelets rather spreading. 



3. S. alterniflora, Loisel. ; leaves continuous with their sheaths, 

 equalling or exceeding the 6-8 spikes ; spikelets many ; rachis 

 produced beyond the spikelets and flexuose ; outer glume 

 glabrous. Stem 2-3 feet high. Leaves broadest at the base. 

 Spikes loosely pressed together. 



Accompanying the specimens sent by Lord Montagu was the 

 following memorandum : 



memorandum on a certain reed locally called ' Rice-grass ' or 

 'Sea-rice' growing in Southampton Water, Beaulieu River, 

 and on the mud-flats from Hurst Castle eastwards along the 

 Hampshire Coast. 



" This grass, which was only to be found in a small patch in 



mthamoton Water till a few Vfiars asm. hna nnw AvtAnrlorl nvor 



,000 



mi 



summer, and its seeds are 



apparently a great favourite with birds, while cattle, rabbits, &c, 

 also feed on it through the summer and autumn. It spreads with 

 remarkable rapidity, and the young plants take a circular form, so 

 it apparently grows outwards from the common root. I am send- 

 ing herewith some specimens for examination at the request of 

 the Chairman of the Royal Commission on Coast Erosion, Mr. Ivor 

 Guest, M.P. The Commission desire to know the exact name of 

 the plant, its origin, and what is known about it. Locally it is 



have come accidentally from the River Plate in a 



grain ship." 



Monta 



the grass to which reference is made in his evidence and memo- 

 randum is the one to which the name of Spartina alterniflora 

 has been applied, and not the typical Spartina stricta, though 

 definite determination must await the flowering of the plants 

 sent ; these are being cultivated at Kew with this object. 



i*?? the ,^ thorit y of Townsend ("Flora of Hampshire," ed. 1, 

 l»5d, p. 400), the first record of Spartina stricta occurring in 

 Hampshire is by Dean Gamier in "The Annual Hampshire 

 Repository " for 1799. From this earliest record up to 1836, all 



Southampton Water 



year 



author of the " Flora Vectensis," published in Hooker's " Com- 



pant on to the Botanical 'MannyA***" xr^i ; -^ qza o/?o ^ ^^l^rl 



account of what he regarded as a different species, which he 

 identified at first with S. glabra, Muhlenb., and subsequently 

 with 6. alterniflora, Loisel. Dr. Bromfield devoted a great deal 

 of time to the investigation of this plant, as distinguished from 

 6. stricta, and he has put on record that it then occupied different 

 areas, the two never intermingling, though patches of the two 



