SEA CLUB RUSH 209 



The stamens with 2 half-anthers and the carpels with 2 stigmas 

 are borne in two rows on a spadix enclosed in a spathe. The flowers 

 are submerged. The pollen tubes are long thread-like bodies, which 

 float in sea water at any depth, having the same specific gravity. The 

 hairlike stigmas being large and projecting easily catch some of the 

 threads, and are pollinated in this way by water as trees are by the 

 wind. 



The fruit is an achene, which is furrowed, and the plant being 

 immersed the seeds are dispersed by water. 



This species is aquatic and confined to sea water. 



A beetle, Hcpinonia Curtisi, is found on it. 



Zostera, Linnaeus, is from the Greek zoster, girdle, in allusion to 

 the long strap-shaped, streaming leaves. The meaning of the specific 

 name is obvious. 



Grass "Wrack is also called Barnacle-grass, Drew, Sweet Grass, 

 Grass-weed, Mallow, Sleech, Widgeon Grass, and Sea Wrack. 

 Another name is Bellware, this plant being the " Seaweed " from 

 which kelp is made. 



The leaves are used as manure in Sweden and Holland, and used 

 for stuffing packing-cases, beds, and cushions, being flexible. It is 

 used for the covering of liqueur flasks. It is also employed for thatch- 

 ing, roofs thus made lasting over 100 years. Grass Wrack is also used 

 for packing glass and china. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



317. Zostera marina, L. Leaves broadly linear, veined, sub- 

 merged, flower in spadix, fruit a nut. 



Sea Club Rush (Scirpus maritimus, L.) 



Found in Neolithic deposits at Southampton clocks, like other 

 maritime but Arctic species, this is represented in plant beds of Glacial 

 and later age. It is found to-day in N. Temperate and Arctic Europe, 

 N. Africa, W. Siberia, N.W. India, and N. America. In Great 

 Britain it is found in Surrey, Berks, and Middlesex, on the banks of 

 the Thames, and in Cambridge and Huntingdon, Worcester, Warwick, 

 Stafford, Montgomery, and Perth amongst inland counties, and is 

 absent from the coastal counties of Cardigan and Westmorland, ranging 

 elsewhere; but is not found in Banff and Elgin, S. or Mid Ebudes, 

 W. Ross, and farther north or west it is only found in the Hebrides, 

 and from Ross and Skye it is general elsewhere to the English 

 Channel. It is also a native of Ireland and the Channel Islands. 



VOL. II. 29 



