102 



GRASSES iVXD FORAGE PLANTS. 



Table III. List of Grass-like Rushes. (Juncacece.) 



The most prominent and valuable of those plants is the 



Black Grass, Qjuncus bulbosus, var. g-e?'ardi,') an inhabitant 

 of salt marshes. This plant has a simple, slender stem, some- 

 what flattened, from one to two feet high. It is considered the 

 best product of the salt marshes and grows most luxuriantly 

 along their borders which are only occasionally overflowed by 

 the tides, often working its way to the uplands where the seed 

 is scattered, in large quantities, in curing. It should be cut 

 early, and when well cured is thought to be nearly equal in 

 value to good English hay. Though not of itself equal in 

 value, weight for weight, to " goose grass," Q)oa maritima, p. 

 4^, Fig. 30,) yet the product per acre is so much larger as to 

 make it a more desirable crop. 



Most of the salt marsh plants have already been described in 

 the natural history of tlie true grasses. 



The " Goose Grass," one of the most valuable of them, was 

 mentioned under its synonym. Sea Spear Grass, Fig. 30, p. 4^, 



