570 



CVII. GRAMINE^. 



Sandy sea-shores, frequent, 

 l^de, Jersey. 2^. 7, 8, 



high. 



[^Triticum. 



and glumellas smooth,^ rachis of tlie spike smooth, in fruit brittle 

 at the nodes, leaves involute pungent downy above with nu- 

 merous soft very short spreading hairs on each rib, root creeping 

 —a. rachis of the spike smooth, of the spikelets smooth or slio-htly 

 downy especially on the angles, i?. B. t. 814; Parn, Gr. t. 63. 

 ^/3. rachis of the spike slightly toothed at the angles, of the 

 spikelets somewhat downy. 



^. Vazon Bay, Guernsey ; and S. Bre- 



2^. 7, 8, — Whole plant glaucous, rigid, I^ 3 ft. 



Spike long. Spikelets oblong, much compressed, distant in a' 

 approximate in ^. but never imbricated. Gltmies oblong-lanceolate, 

 often S-toothed at the summit, oblique, usually 6-ribbed ; the midrib' 

 which is the longest, and sometimes forms a small apiculus, is not in 

 the centre, but has always more ribs or nerves on one side than on 

 the other ; often there are 1 on the one side and 4 on the other, 

 sometimes 2 on the one side and 3 on the other ; besides these prin- 

 cipal ribs, there are usually intermediate smaller ones at the base, 

 which disappear about the middle. Outer glumellas similar to the 

 glumes but equal-sided, all or the upper ones with a blunt mucro 

 formed by the excurrent midrib. 



3. T. laxum Fries {flat-leaved Sea W,): glaucous, spikelets 

 often approximate 5 — 8-flowered, glumes obtuse or mucronate 

 about 7-ribbed, outer glumella obtuse apiculate 5-nei'ved, keel 

 and mucro of glumes and glumellas smooth, rachis of the spike 

 smooth or minutely toothed on the angles " tenacious," leaves 

 usually flat scabrous above with many acute points on each rib 

 involute when dry, root more or less creeping. T. junceum /3. 

 Br. FL ed. 6. 



Sandy sea-shores, not uncommon. %. 6, 8. ,„,, „^ 



a species with great hesitation, and chiefly to induce more observa- 

 tions to be made upon it. It seems to have been long known in this 

 country, and to have been considered by most collectors as a 

 form of T. repens with blunt glumes, but by others as T. junceum 

 with flat leaves: abroad it appears to have been referred some- 

 times to the same, sometimes to T. glaucum, obtusiflorum, pun- 

 ox rigidum, but in all of which the rachis of the spike is 

 '"' Jn T. junceum the leaves are always involute 



when unrolled the ribs are seen covered 



We 



pens, 



hispid or scabrous. 



and pungent at the point: .._ o^^.. v,..,^. 



with close-set soft down composed of numerous shoTtVaks' porting 

 obliquely and reaching to the similar hairs on the adjacent rib, thus 

 forming a cover to the strias between the ribs In T. laxum these 

 hairs are reduced to mere points arranged on the ribs almost in the 

 same manner, but from their shortness cause the leaves to be scabrous 

 to the touch. _ The leaves are usually flat, but Mr. Baker observes 

 that they are involute when the plant grows in dry sand. In both 

 species the rachis of the spike is smooth or slightly rough at the 

 angles^ while that of the spikelets is either smooth or slightly downy. 

 Mr Babington says the outer glumellas of T. >Mce«m are obtuse, 

 of T. laxum apiculate. Now, in all the specimens of T. junceum be- 

 fore us, the midrib forms, particularly in the upper] florets, a much 



I 



