92 GRAMINEAE 
given by its long creeping roots, could not grow there ; and it is one of our 
most serviceable plants in fixing the sands. Many parts of the coast are 
quite destitute of it, but on spots where it is abundant, it may be known 
even far away by the peculiar bluish colour of its foliage. The only grass 
for which it could possibly be mistaken is the Marram or Sea-reed, and it 
differs from this in having its spikelets seated closely on the main stem, 
whereas those of that grass are on short foot-stalks. The seeds are in Iceland 
ground into flour, and used for making bread, and the grass affords a great 
amount of saccharine matter. It is not eaten by cattle, and, valuable as it 
is on our shores as a sand grass, it is far more necessary to those of Holland. 
2. Pendulous Sea Lyme-grass (EZ. geniculdtus).—Spike loose, bent 
downwards ; the part of the stem on which the spikelets are seated, winged ; 
glumes awl-shaped, smooth, longer than the spikelet. Perennial. This 
plant, which was reported many years ago as growing ina salt marsh near 
Gravesend, is not known to grow either there or in any other part of the 
kingdom, though it is rendered so singular by its kneed stem as to be readily 
distinguished from any other grass. The spike is erect in an early stage of 
its growth, and the stem next bends into a horizontal position, finally turning 
downwards, when it withers and falls off at the joints. The leaves are rigid 
and rolled inward, the stem about 1 or 2 feet high, bearing in July its very 
long spike. 
36. (48) BARLEY (LHérdeum). 
1. Lyme-grass, or Wood Barley (H. sylvdticum).—Spike upright, 
compact ; empty glumes awl-shaped, not: fringed, rough, awned ; flowering 
glume with an awn twice its length ; lateral spikelets with both stamens and 
pistils, middle ones without either. Perennial. This grass differs chiefly 
from the next species in having longer awns; it is common in woods and 
thickets in chalky soils. It does not occur in Scotland, Wales, or the eastern 
counties of England ; in Ireland it has been found near Dublin, but doubt- 
fully native. The leaves are flat, ribbed, acute, rough on both sides, pale 
green, and pliant ; and the spike, which appears in June, is green and 2 or 3 
inches long, on an erect smooth stem, about two feet high. 
2. Meadow Barley (Z. praténse).—Spike upright, compact ; glumes all 
bristle-lke and rough, not fringed ; flowering glume of the middle spikelet 
about as long as its awn—of the lateral ones with a short awn; lateral spike- 
lets without pistils ; central flower largest, and perfect. Annual. This is a’ 
common grass in damp meadows, and has a smooth stem about a foot and a 
half or two feet high, with a close spike two or three inches long. It is a 
slender plant, tlie leaves narrow and rather rough. It bears in early spring 
a considerable quantity of foliage, but the roughness of its awns unfits it for 
hay or pasture grass. 
3. Wall Barley, Way Bennet (/. murinum).—Spike upright, com- 
pact ; glumes of the middle spikelets lance-shaped, and fringed—of the lateral 
ones, bristle-like and rough ; middle spikelet with stamens and pistils ; lateral 
ones with neither. Annual. Every English child knows this common grass, 
so like the cultivated barley of the field as to be universally called Wild 
Barley. It is a shorter and stouter species than the preceding, and though 
