76 GRAMINEA 
seed. The grains are eagerly eaten not only by water-fowl and other birds, 
but also by fish, especially the trout. The long narrow leaves, too, which 
lie floating on the surface of the water, form a sweet herbage for horses and 
cattle ; and the cows may be seen on a summer, or even a winter day going 
far into the pool to crop it, for it is green and nutritious and plentiful, even 
at the season when herbage is scarce. 
3. Creeping Sea Meadow-grass (P. marttima).—Panicle erect, with 
its lower branches in pairs, or with spikelets on simple stalks ; spikelets 
flattened, narrow ; glumes taper-pointed ; outer flowering glume firm and of 
purplish colour; rootstock creeping and throwing out long runners. Perennial. 
This is a short grass, varying in height from half a foot to a foot, and bear- 
ing, in July and August, a firm, rigid flower-cluster. It is often of a sea- 
green colour, the flowers tinged with purple, and the leaves generally folded, 
compressed, and pungent. It is a common seaside plant, growing mostly in 
marshes, or on the grassy banks of sea-walls, as on those of Dymchurch in 
Kent, and also on the borders of the River Medway in the same county ; 
and is often so covered up with mud that one wonders how it can thrive at all. 
4. Reflexed Meadow-grass (P. disians).—Panicle spreading ; branches 
finally turning downwards, lower mostly in fours or fives ; spikelets narrow 
and small of 3—6 florets; glumes shcrt, unequal. Perennial. The round 
slender stem of this grass is often a foot and a half high, generally prostrate 
at the base, and the panicle, which appears in July and August, is light and 
graceful, with numerous rather small spikelets, on branches which are rough 
to the touch, and which bend downwards in the manner which characterises 
this species. Its leaves are smooth, flat, and unfolded. It is nearly allied to 
the last species, and is equally rigid, but the reflexed branches and smaller 
spikelets, as well as the tasteless leaves, distinguish it. In P. maritima the 
lower branches are always erect. It is also usually taller and more slender 
than that plant. It has fibrous roots, rarely with runners, and usually few 
leaves. It is rather a local grass, generally found on sandy pastures on the 
coast. Sometimes, however, it grows on the borders of brackish rivers, as on 
the muddy shores of the Avon, near Clifton, where it flourishes in great 
abundance, and is the companion of the Creeping Meadow-grass and of the 
Sea Procumbent Meadow-grass. It is rare in Ireland. 
5. Borrer’s Sea Meadow-grass (P. borréri).—Panicle spreading ; 
branches short, lowermost ones generally in fours, often standing out hori- 
zontally from the stem, but when in fruit always erect ; spikelets small, and 
of 4—7 flowers, narrow; flowering glumes truncate ; stems tufted. Perennial. 
This grass is often found growing with the last two species in salt marshes, 
but only on the south and east coasts. Its leaves are short and flat, and 
remarkable for their long sheaths. Its panicle appears in July, and the 
spikelets are very much smaller than in the two preceding grasses, and the 
branches fewer. The stem is about a foot high. It is a local but not rare 
grass. 
6. Procumbent Sea Meadow-grass (P. prociimbens).—Panicle com- 
pact, scarcely branched except at the lower part; branches upright, rigid, 
and never bending ; spikelets narrowly lance-shaped, of about four flowers ; 
flowering glumes small, blunt, ending in a hard point. Annual. This is a not 
