GRASS FAMILY 



589 



solid above ; leaves involute, firm, with numerous thick ribs, each 

 with a row of sharp points above; spikelets 5 — 12-flowered, — 

 Sandy sea-shores ; rare.— Fl. July. Perennial. 



5. T. acutum (Acute Couch). — Loosely tufted ; stems solid, 

 -bent below; leaves much as in the preceding; spike long, lax. 



arching ; spikelets 4 — 8-flowered ; rachis very broad between the 

 spikelets. — Sandy sea- 

 shores. — Fl. July, August. 

 Perennial. 



6. T. junceiim (Rush-like 

 Couch). — A prostrate, stiff 

 plant, creeping extensively 

 so as to form large patches, 

 often glaucous ; stems 

 ascending, smooth ; leaves 

 leathery, involute, downy 

 above ; spike 2 — 4 in. long, 

 curved, rather lax, with a 

 brittle rachis ; spikelets 

 large, shining, pale, 4 — 8- 

 flowered ; glumes often 

 obtuse. — Sandy sea-shores ; 

 local. — Fl. July, August. 

 Perennial. 



46. Lepturus, of which 

 L. filiformis (Sea Hard- 

 grass) is the only British 

 species, is a genus of 

 slender grasses differing 

 from Triiiciim in having 

 I -flowered spikelets. These 

 are, as in that genus, soli- 

 tary and sessile in the 

 notches of the rachis, dis- 

 tichous, and placed with 

 their broad sides towards the rachis, and are awnless. Our British 

 species is a little glabrous, decumbent grass, 4 — 8 in. high ; leaves 

 short, leathery, rough ; spike 2 — 6 in. long, cylindric, slender, 

 with a stiff, grooved rachis ; spikelets \ in. long, green. — Waste 

 places near the sea; uncommon. (Name from the Greek leptos, 

 slender, oura, tail, from its slender spikes.) — Fl. July — September. 

 Annual. 



47. Nardus (Mat-grass), of which N. stricta is the only species, 

 is a densely tufted, erect, wiry, glabrous plant, 4 — 10 in. high, 



NARDUS STRICTA {Mat-grass). 



