cLAssni. 0R»2a n.J MLYMUS. 149 



of llie spikelet. Glinnelles two, nearly equal. — Name, " e\vy^^, 

 given by the Greeks to the Panic -grasses, perhaps because they 

 grew abundantly about Elyma, in Greece. Theis." — (Hook.) 



1. E. arena'rius, Linn. (Fig. 190.) upright Sea Lyme-rjrass. Spike 

 erect, close ; spikelcts in pairs ; florets as long as the lanceolate 

 glumes. 



English 13otany, t. 1672. — English Flora, ?ol. i. p. 177. — Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 296. — Hooker, British Flora, \ol. i. p. 55. — Sinclair, Hort 

 Gram. Woburu. p. 368. 



Root with numerous long, tough, creeping underground stems. Stem 

 from three to four feet high, round, smooth, striated, leafy, stout. 

 Leaves long, the margins rolled inwards, the point acute, hard, smooth, 

 glaucous, the xippcr side v\ith numerous strong stria, the under quite 

 smooth. Sheaths long, close, smooth, striated. Liguhi very short, 

 obtuse. Lijlnrescence an erect, close spike, from four to twelve inches 

 long, pale glaucous -green, the rachis notched and waved. Spikelets 

 about three-flowered, two, sometimes three, from the same point. 

 Glumes lanceolate, with a largish sharp point, keeled, and more or less 

 distinctly ribbed, smooth or slightly downy. Florets elevated on short 

 downy footstallis. Glumelles equal, lanceolate, downy : the o«/^r valve 

 keeled, and with four lateral ribs ; the inner thin, membranous, with 

 two lateral ribs and a slightly bifid apex. Gbnnellules lanceolate, 

 downy, and ciliated. Stigmas feathery. Fruit linear, the apex hairy, 

 furrowed un one side. 



Habitat. — Sandy sea-shores ; frequent. 



Perennial ; flowering (but rarely) in July. 



Neither this nor tlie following species are grasses of any agricultural 

 utility, although they contain a large proportion of nutritive matter, 

 remarkable for the quantity of saccharine substance which it contains. 

 They are, nevertheless, grasses of considerable importance in prevent- 

 ing the encroachments of the sea, especially the E. arenaria, which is 

 frequently found growing in company with Ammophila arenaria and 

 Carex arenaria, all of which have long, tough, creeping underground 

 stems, with numerous fibrous downy roots interweaving themselves 

 together, and forming a kind of network, which, together with their 

 stout tufted stems and wide-spreading leaves, form a natural barrier 

 admirably adapted by Nature to prevent the encroachment of the loose 

 and flowing sands, which would otherwise advance, and convert many 

 of the now fertile meadows or the luxuriant plains into deserts of 

 moving sand. Much land has been lost at various periods by the 

 encroachment of the sea, as well as by the inundation of sand, owing 

 to these natural protections having been destroyed by reckless people. 

 Of so much importance have these grasses been esteemed, even so far 

 back as the reign of William III., as to induce the Scottish Parliament 

 of that period to render its destruction penal ; and theise provisions 



