4 BRITISH GRASSES. 



long ago, and into which the water trickles when the 

 sunbeams thaw the hoary snows above. There it flings 

 its sweet greenness to the sun, creeps about in the 

 mazes of the solitude, and waves its fairy tassels in the 

 wind. It even beautifies the grave, and spreads over 

 the sightless visage of death and darkness the serene 

 lustre of a summer smile." 



In our climate, the idea of grass is always connected 

 with the velvety sward of hill and park, or the quivering 

 plumes of the fragrant meadow ; but in tropical coun- 

 tries the character of the grasses is quite different. 

 There you may search in vain for the compact elastic 

 turf over which our childhood's feet have loved to 

 bound ; grasses you find indeed, but seldom crowded 

 together and interwoven into a natural carpet. There 

 they grow dispersed or in clusters, attaining a lordly 

 size, and exhibiting gigantic plumes of flowers of sur- 

 passing beauty. Nearly all tropical grasses attain a 

 height that may be called gigantic in comparison with 

 our British species, and some of the Bamboos grow to a 

 stature of fifty or sixty feet. Their leaves are broader 

 in proportion, and in most species there are flowers of 

 different sexes on each plant. The flowers are more 

 generally furnished with hairy appendages, or the parts 

 are fringed with silky hairs often of silvery whiteness, 

 which gives them a very elegant appearance. Thus the 

 tropical grasses make up by their size and beauty for 

 the absence of the ever- welcome turf. In subtropical 

 districts the grasses are of an intermediate size and 

 number, or representatives of the two forms are both 

 present. Arundo Donax in the south of Europe emu- 

 lates the Bamboo in its size and elegance, and several 

 species present the characteristic of the combination of 



