the greatest ease, breaking or snapping shall henceforth designate as S. alter 
asunder without the necessity of twisting fora. The words in italics are those 
the stem, or using the least exertion of 
strength.! Every part of the Southampton 
plant exhaled a very fetid odour, common 
to it and stricta, resembling that of phos- 
phuretted hydrogen, which it retains after 
desiccation, and communicates to the paper 
in which it is kept, however frequently 
shifted; a few specimens will sensibly in- 
fect a whole room to a person just entering 
Lu o iL ai : 
arr ran 
, J Bar 
There remains to be mentioned another 
and singular difference between this spe- 
cies and the ordinary stricta ; which is the 
more deserving of remark, since it depends 
on a structural peculiarity, affording an ad- 
mirable discriminating character. In Sp. 
stricta the lower portion of the culm is 
clothed with the remains of sheaths sud- 
denly truncated at their upper end, like the 
stipules of a Polygonum, or as if abruptly 
broken off at a joint,? an appearance never 
observable in the Southampton larger spe- 
cies; the reason of which is, that in the 
latter, the leaves are continuous with the 
sheaths at their base, not articulated with 
them as in Sp. stricta, where a strong an- 
nular, often projecting line or fillet inter- 
rupts the continuity, disposing the leaf to 
separate readily from the top of the sheath 
when pulled or torn, exactly at the articu- 
lation, marking the limits of each. In 
consequence of the intimate connexion 
between the leaves and their sheaths, the 
former remain attached to the latter during 
the life of the plant in our new English 
species, thus contributing gréatly towards 
its resemblance, when viewed in the mass, 
to the ordinary Cerealia. 
The following is a general description 
of the Southampton Spartina, which I 
— 
! It is possible the imputed toughness and rigidity 
of Sp. stricta may be influenced by soil ; with us here, 
it is certainly not so remarkable for either quality as 
many sea-side plants of its order. In these respects, 
however, it exceeds the new species, which last ac- 
i 32 p BES 
A t 
ried tor the Her- 
Piin. 
As Well represented in Knapp's figure, t. 63 (other- 
wise a miserable one), and in that of En lish B 
Vol. VI. t. 380. DE 
A DESCRIPTION OF SPARTINA ALTERNIFLORA. 
pressive of the differences between oui 
alterniflora and the ordinary Sp. stricta, 
Descr. Root creeping extensively, with 
long, white, and very stout-jointed runne 
very much more branched and fibrous than — 
in Sp. stricta, especially at the crown? - 
Culms one or many from the same root; | 
very slightly ascending, or quite upright, — 
hollow, reed-lke, rather brittle than tough; — 
rom eighteen inches to two or three feet in 
height; thicker than a swan-quill at the — 
base; clothed for some distance upwards | 
with the withered sheaths of earlier growth, 
which are surmounted by the also wither- 
ing, but persistent leaves. Colour of the | 
culms and sheaths a rich straw-yellow, 
with a tint of red; green when young, often 
purplish-brown or olive on the upper part — 
of the stem ; much clearer and brighter at 
all times than in Sp. stricta. Leaves a 
foot or more in length, six to ten lines 1n i 
breadth ; alternate, nearly erect, quite flat 
above, except for an inch or two at their 
involute extremity, very obtusely keeled ‘ 
beneath, finely striated, glabrous in every — 
part, of a pale, slightly glaucous green, of. 
a pleasanter and livelier tint than in stricta ; ; 
the uppermost, and very often that imme- — 
diately succeeding it below, much longer . 
than the flower-spikes, more rarely equal - 
with the latter, mever shorter. Sheaths — 
closely investing the culms below; ope 
to a considerable distance from their sum- 
mits downward, in which they differ from 
those of S. stricta, whose sheaths are closed 
nearly to their junction with the leaf. No 
distinct articulation of the leaf with 1s 
sheath, into which the former suddenly : 
tracts without tapering, presenting à br 
square base at the point of union, with an 
auricle-like fold on each side of the ve 
which is therefore much narrower thant 
leaf at its origin.* The want of articulation 
3 The figures just referred to. sored ede " 
the comparatively simple root of S. stricta, co "m. 
with the same parts in alterniflora, densely mà 
a Sor ee 
leaf-bases e. 
wermost leaves. In very Jt 
small plants, this portion of the leaf not unfreq 
