5i8 



THE NATURE BOOK 



Grass (Dcschanipsia ccBspilosa) may be 

 found growing in tlie vicinity of the 

 Common Reed, for it is another water - 

 loving species, and when found in the 

 meadow grass it means 

 that under-drainage is 

 wanted, that water is ly- 

 ing in the subsoil. The 

 Hair Grass is striking in 

 appearance, with the long 

 delicate panicle rising from 

 four-foot stems with its 

 hair-like branchlets carried 

 rather vertically. The in- 

 di\'idual flower -spikelets 

 are not expanded much, 

 but rather contracted 

 upon themselves, showing 

 a sih'ery or purple colour 

 in the glumes. In this 

 case the silvery appear- 

 ance is not caused by the 

 growth of soft down on 

 the plant, for both leaves 

 and panicle are harsh to 

 the touch ; the former, 

 broad and flat in form, 

 ha\'ing the surface rough- 

 ened with grooves. In 

 the illustration we see the 

 sheath rolled very closel}' 

 on the stem right up to 

 the point where a second- 

 ary leaf-sheath passes 

 through, and one almost 

 looks in vain for the split 

 that always separates the 

 Grass family from the 

 Sedges. For here, in the 

 water-loving grass, we find 

 the merging of instincts, or point of 

 alliance between otherwise separated 

 })lants, owing to the necessities of the 

 situation. The sheaths, being the pro- 

 tective sections of the plant's economy, so 

 long as there is need to keep the flower- 

 head from moisture in its immature state, 

 remains firmly watertight where the sur- 

 round of water enforces such response. 

 One might suppose that water plants 

 learnt by experience— or by so doing sur- 

 vived consequences — that water may rise 

 abruptly and uncertainly, swamp the up- 

 rising flowering-stems or tender stage of 

 its advance, and the grass that held the 



REED GRASS 



sheath closed succeeded in maintaining its 

 existence best. 



On the other hand, the grasses of the 

 drier regions habitually split their sheaths 

 on discovery that no such 

 catastrophe occurred as 

 the submerging of the 

 precious flower-head in 

 water. I use the term 

 " discovery," of course, in 

 a qualified sense. Yet it 

 is not altogether inappro- 

 ]:>riate, since the power of 

 adaptation to circum- 

 stance is inherently a 

 factor originating in a 

 sense of discovery or re- 

 cognition of locality. 



In the Reed Grass 

 [Phalaris ariindinacea) 

 there is so strong a char- 

 acteristic resemblance in 

 the arrangement of the 

 leaves to that of the 

 Common Reed that no one 

 can fail to recognise the 

 species. The glint of the 

 grey - green stems and 

 broad leaves branching 

 from them in close prox- 

 imity to each other is 

 unmistakable. In the dry 

 autumn state, the panicle 

 shrinks closer together, 

 and has more the look of 

 a spike, but the branchlets 

 can easily be pressed out 

 into the appearance of the 

 illustration. The large 

 ligules, or extensions of 

 the transparent white membrane which 

 lines the leaf -sheath, are very clearly 

 shown in the two central stems, and they 

 are one of the characteristics of this 

 It is a species that can attain six 

 growth in our moist land regions, 

 at home in sand, or as a marsh 

 it can equally maintain itself 

 the cre\dces of the stone work 

 line the Thames at Richmond, 

 green of the flower-head 

 August fades later into a 



grass. 



feet of 



W^hilst 



])lant, 



among 



which 



The whitish 



of July and 



pale fawn-coloured spike, soft to the 

 touch and measuring six to eight inches 

 in length. 



Maud U. Clarke. 



