2i 4 FLOWERS OF THE SEA-COAST 



attack this plant, the first stages in each case growing on a Composite 

 plant. This and other Carices are also liable to be infested by 

 Sclerotinia duriczaina. 



A beetle, Anthiciis bimaculatus, is found amongst herbage made up 

 of this sand sedge. 



Carex is the Latin word for reed-grass or sedge, and the second 

 Latin name indicates its preference for a sandy habitat. It is called 

 Sea Bent and Stare. 



The Sand Sedge has been planted on dykes in Holland to prevent 

 the incursions of the sea, and has been used for this purpose on the 

 British coast. From the roots a sort of sarsaparilla has been made in 

 Germany. Sedges have been used as fodder for cattle, for thatch, 

 and fuel. Some species are used like Raffia Grass to tie up vines, 

 or to put between the staves of casks to make them water-tight, and 

 they have also been woven over Florence flasks, or used for chair 

 bottoms. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



325. Carex arenaria, L. Stem rough above, soboles long, leaves 

 linear-lanceolate, spike oblong, interrupted, upper spikelets male, fruit 

 ovate, broadly winged. 



Marram Grass (Ammophila arenaria, Link.) 



This littoral grass is found in the North Temperate region in 

 Europe and N. Africa, not having yet been found in any Glacial 

 plant beds. In Great Britain it is found on the coast of all maritime 

 counties except W. Kent, Gloucs, S. Lines, Westmorland, I. of Man, 

 Lanark, Perth, Westerness, Main Argyll, N. Ebudes, Ross, E. Suther- 

 land, as far north as the Shetlands. It is a native of Ireland and the 

 Channel Islands. 



Marram Grass is a common maritime species, so much so as to 

 form practically an association along the littoral with different species 

 of Agropyron and Elymus. It grows only on sandy coasts, being 

 strictly a sand-lover, as the second Latin name indicates, and frequents 

 sandhills at high-water level, invading the sand dunes inland for some 

 distance. It has been regularly planted in Norfolk for coast protection, 

 and laws regulate its removal. 



The stem is tall, erect, stout, rigid, from a creeping root (with 

 numerous tubers), which is matted and binds the sand around its base 

 closely together. The leaves are long, smooth on the outside, rough 

 within, with their edges rolled inward, acute, and bluish-green, with 



