202 
might expect to receive this last from Ame- 
rica; yet I cannot learn that it is a native 
of that continent, or noticed as indigenous 
by any author on American Botany. We 
shall see reason immediately for suspecting 
that our Southampton Spartina may have 
been introduced from the western hemi- 
sphere. 
The proportion in quantity between Sp. 
alterniflora and stricta at Southampton is 
very unequal, the predominance in favour 
of the new species being, on the most mo- 
derate estimate, at least ten to one. Sp. 
alterniflora seems, as far as I can ascer- 
tain, to be the only kind above the Itchen 
Ferry, where it occurs in vast profusion, in 
irregular patches or fields of very various 
dimensions, from a dozen yards to two or 
three hundred in circumference, thickly 
scattered over the great beds of mud and 
ooze, partly covered, and partly above the 
surface at high water, the treacherous and 
shifting soil of which, our plant, amongst 
its other valuable qualities, contributes, 
with its densely fibrous and matted roots 
and runners, materially to consolidate. 
These Spartina-swamps extend along each 
side of the river, beginning just above the , 
village of Itchen, to within a few hundred 
yards of Northam bridge, beyond which I 
have never met with either kind. Our 
Spartina adds to the richness of the view 
from Pear-tree Green, and other elevated 
spots, by the mellow tint of its masses that 
clothe the shores; the culm and leaves 
acquiring, in incipient decay, at this sea- 
son, (Oct. 23rd,) a fine reddish brown or 
tawny hue, totally unlike the pale, dull, 
ashy colour which Sp. stricta puts on late 
in the year. Below the Ferry, and de- 
scending towards the junction of the Itchen 
and Southampton rivers, Sp. alterniflora 
re-appears in smaller quantity and of less 
luxuriant growth; and here, for the first 
time, stricta begins to show itself in de- 
tached portions, often growing side by side 
with the former, but never mingling with it. 
The people employed about the Ferry 
are unanimous in asserting, that Sp. alter- 
niflora was not found below that point till P 
of late years, it being a tradition among 
A DESCRIPTION OF SPARTINA ALTERNIFLORA. 
them that the plant was brought from some 
place higher up the stream on the first 
melting of the ice after a hard winter, — 
about twelve or fourteen years back, as far — 
as I can collect, though of the precise - 
date no one pretends to speak positively. - 
Nor do any of them profess to know how — 
long it has been growing above the Ferry, — 
though all agree it is much more abundant 
there now than ever, and is still increasing — 
annually. One old man declared to me, — 
he remembered it all his life on the upper 
station; another that there was none of it — 
in his younger days; it is difficult to re- 
concile such conflicting accounts, except 
by supposing different plants to be con- — 
founded together, — Scirpus maritimus, — 
perhaps, which is plentiful along the shore, 
yet far less so than our Spartina. Ihave 
traced its termination upwards, which 
finishes below Northam bridge. 
higher it could not occur, as the Itchen — 
soon loses the character of a tide-river, 
and at Wood Mills, not above three or 
four miles from its junction with the, 
Southampton estuary, becomes a fresh- 
water stream. 
rica, either in ballast, or as a packing mà- 
terial in stowing the hold, and so have be- : 
come naturalized with us. Its prodigious . 
quantity is against the supposition; and 3 
indeed we are only justified in § 
its exotic origin from the account just 
given, (one not very conclusive of the m- s: 
ference,) and from the fact, that as far as 
know, this species of Spartina has not be- 
fore been detected elsewhere in this or any 
other European country. [See the note by 
the Editor, at p. 61. Ep.]. 
The poorer classes of Southampton em- 
ploy Spartina alterniflora for thatching 
the roofs of out-houses,’ cattle-she 
in lieu of reeds; more extensively 
ter, and subsequently as manure. 
rsed on the — 
z ith whom I conve 
1 A labouring man, with w cae be remembered it * 
roofing 
It is possible our Southampton alterni- — 
flora may have been imported from Ame- — 
for lit- * 
