CtASS VI. ORDER HI. J ^ TRIGEOCHIH. 631 



with very short filaments, the anthers ovate, of two cells, shorter than 

 the perianth. Stigmas feathery, sessile. Fruit linear, tapering at the 

 base, and somewhat contracted at the apex, of three teeth, formed of 

 three united capsules, each single celled and single seeded, separating 

 from the base, and standing off, giving it a barbed or arrow-shaped 

 appearance. 



The leaves and stems, when bruised, have a fetid smell and saline 

 taste. It is eaten by beast and sheep with apparent relish. 



Habitat. Wet marshy places ; frequent. 



Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 



2 T. maril'imum, Linn. (Fig. 608.) Sea side Arrow-grass. Fruit 

 ovate, of six single celled capsules ; raceme elongated, many-flowered ; 

 ligula oblong, obtuse. 



English Botany, t. 255. English Flora, vol. ii. p. 201. Hooter, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 174. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 252. 



Root of numerous long branched spreading fibres. Leaves all 

 radical, numerous, long, linear, tapering, roundish, scarcely channeled 

 above, dilated at the base into a thin sheath, with membranous mar- 

 gins, terminated at the top into an oblong obtuse ligula. Scape erect, 

 from twelve to eighteen inches high, round, smooth, terminating in 

 spikes of numerous flowers, becoming elongated after flowering. 

 Flowers of a pale green, each elevated on a short footstalk, or nearly 

 sessile. Perianth of six nearly equal roundish concave pieces, some- 

 what fleshy, falling away after flowering. Stamens sessile, or on a very 

 short filament, the anthers ovate, about as long as the perianth, two 

 celled. Stigmas small, sessile, feathery. Fruit roundish, ovate, formed 

 of six united capsules, each containing a single seed. 



Habitat. Marshes and wet places near the sea. 



Perennial ; flowering in August. 



This is a stouter, more robust, and fleshy plant, than T. palustris t 

 and is readily distinguished by its capsules when in fruit, and by its 

 oblong ligules before flowering. It has a more saline taste and stronger 

 odour than the T. palustris, and is eaten with as great, or even greater, 

 relish by most cattle than the other species. 



It is well known to farmers and others that there is a constant ten- 

 dency in all herbage, even in a dry season, and much more so in a 

 rainy, in wet meadows and marshy districts, to grow so rapidly, as to 

 want much in firmness and the usual qualities of the plant : that is, 

 to become " watery," juices being less elaborated into the bitter and 

 saline principles, which all plants in a greater or less degree contain. 

 In consequence of this the herbage is much less wholesome, far 

 less nutritious, and a frequent cause of disease, as is so frequently 

 exemplified in the more delicately constituted animals presently 

 suffering from grazing upon it, thus producing those maladies which 

 prove one of the greatest losses to the grazier. 



