NATURAL HISTORY. 25 



beauty to delight the eye and swell the heart of the lover of 

 nature. 



Blue Joint Grass, (calamaffrostis canadensis.) The gen- 

 eric characteristics are, one flowered spikelets, open panicle, 

 contracted or spiked ; glumes keeled, about equal to the paleae, 

 around which, at the base, is a thick tuft of white bristly hairs ; 

 lower palea generally with a slender awn on the back. 



Specific doscri|)tion : Stems three to five feet high, greyish, 

 leaves flat, panicle often purplish, the glumes acute, lanceo- 

 late, lower j)aloa not longer than the very fine hairs bearing an 

 extremely delicate awn below the middle, nearly equal to the 

 hairs. Flowers in July. The blue joint grass is A'cry common 

 on low grounds. It is generally considered a valuable grass. 

 It is eaten greedily by stock in the winter, and is thought by 

 some to be as nutritious as Timothy. 



The Glaucous Small Reed, (calamagrostis coarctata,') is 

 also somewhat common in our wet meadows, open swamps and 

 along low river banks. Its stems are from three to five feet 

 high, seed hairy, crowned with a bearded tuft ; lower palea 

 shorter than the taper-pointed tips of the lanceolate glumes, 

 almost twice the length of the liairs, with a rigid, short awn 

 above the middle. 



Beach Grass, Sea Sand Reed, Mat Grass, (ammcyphila arun- 

 dinacea,) grows to a height of two or three feet, with a rigid 

 culm, from stout roots running often to the distance of twenty 

 or thirty feet ; leaves wide, rather short, of a sea green color ; 

 panicle contracted into a close, dense spike, from six to twelve 

 inches long, nearly white. It is found in the sands of the sea 

 shore where its thick, strong, creeping, perennial roots, with 

 many tubers the size of a pea, prevent the drifting of the sand 

 from the action of the winds and waves, thus forming a barrier 

 against the encroachments of the sea. 



This grass is very generally diffused on sea coasts over the 

 world, and is found inland on the shores of Lake Superior. 

 It has also been cultivated by way of experiment, and with 

 success, on the sands at Lowell, and still farther up on the 

 banks of the Merrimack River. Though not cultivated for 

 agricultural purposes, it is of great value in protecting sandy 

 beaches. It is preserved in England and Scotland by act of 

 parliament. Flowers in August. 



