to be a character of primary import- 
in distinguishing our alterniflora from 
common British stricta. Ligule, as in 
Sp. stricta, not a line in length; a mere 
ow of white cilize, sometimes membranous 
dlaciniated. Spikes (criste of Trinius) 
numerous, from four or five to twelve or 
thirteen! (usually six to eight), very une- 
. qual, three or four inches long, mostly al- 
D: ternate, sometimes opposite ; the lowermost 
. one often concealed by the sheathing base 
_ of the upper leaf; all united into a close, 
lanceolate, laterally compressed, coarctate 
. panicle, or rather compound spike, bearing 
l much resemblance, thus conjoined, to an 
 earof &orn. Panicle, or compound spike, 
eight to ten inches long, in full-sized indi- 
. vidual Common rachis merely a conti- 
1 nuation of the culm itself, from which it 
- differs in being compressed and slightly 
: flexuose, but which, as it ascends, becomes 
 findly dichotomous, the two divisions 
forming a pair of terminal spikes, similar 
to those below them, often but not always 
of equal 
ms may be considered as perfectly gla- 
3 brous; but a very few and extremely minute 
. fpues may occasionally be discovered by 
We lens scattered at very distant intervals. 
! mity of each partial rachis greatly 
produced beyond the ultimate floret, into a 
long, awn-like, and somewhat flexuose 
pomt? Florets alternate, or spirally ar- 
ranged on each partial rachis; somewhat 
remote, half an inch in length, about one- 
$ Piin smaller than in Sp. stricta. Calyz- 
| g! mes very unequal, the smaller and outer 
one linear, almost filiform, considerably 
embraces the stem, a 
curvature; in nd of course takes its cylindrical 
bru whieh case a slight pressure with the 
HN e leaf Just above its origin agaiust the 
e sd "attening the former, renders its true outline 
: tly apparent, 
! Thi : 
Sepe is the greatest number I have myself 
* An e 
oe PE and very permanent character, dis- 
Cn rom Sp. stricta, in which the rachis is 
Bars 9nger than the terminal floret, and usually 
ght or subulate, 
E. 
A DESCRIPTION OF SPARTINA ALTERNIFLORA. 
257 
shorter (often one-half) than the inner, 
in which respect it deviates from stricta, 
where the relative length of the glumes 
does not differ more than about a third.’ 
Larger glume broader in proportion to 
its length than in stricta, with about 
three very strongly-marked, and (in the 
ripe plant) prominent lateral nerves,—ano- 
ther very good and constant character, 
which my friend Mr. Borrer first remarked, 
and pointed out to me, two months ago, it 
being to that gentleman I first imparted my 
suspicions of the specific difference betwixt 
our present plant and the stricta of British 
and continental writers. In the latter, these 
nerves are nearly obsolete. "Towards its 
apex, the larger glume is almost always 
emarginate,* and the point itself commonly 
crowded with a minute fascicle of white 
bristly hairs, a continuation obviously of 
the minute spines pointing upwards, that 
arm the glume along its outer edge or 
back. In stricta I have never found such 
beard or tuft, though the dorsal spines ex- 
ist equally in that species as in our alter- 
niflora, but the larger glume of whose 
longer and narrower florets is simply acu- 
minate at its apex; at other times bifid or 
torn. There is no roughness or hairiness 
on any part of the calyx in our plant, ex- 
cept occasionally a little silky pubescence 
towards the lower extremity of the larger 
glume, scarcely appreciable; the whole 
upper surface is absolutely and strictly 
glabrous, as is also that of the smaller 
valve. Valves of the corolla much broader 
than in Sp. stricta ; usually rather shorter 
in proportion to the larger calyx-glume, and 
I think somewhat less acute than the valves 
in stricta ; but except in regard to breadth, 
all these marks are liable to great variation. 
They are not unfrequently bearded like the 
glumes with bristly, or rather spinous 
hairs, a few of which are often, but not 
always, observable along the back or out- 
ward edge of the valves, particularly of 
the exterior or smaller one. The interior 
3 The relative length of the calycine glumes is too 
variable to be taken as a character ; they approximate, 
however, in the main, to something like stability. 
4 So it is sometimes in stricta. 
