PSAMMA. 



159 



length as the flowering glume, narrow, minutely fringed at 

 the margins. 



Although this grass is too hard and coarse to be 

 eaten by any kind of cattle, it is not without its utility. 

 Common on seacoasts, es- 

 tablishing itself among the 

 loose drifting sand; its ex- 

 tensive creeping roots have 

 an amazing power in binding 

 together the loose material 

 of its home, and thus forming 

 out of useless drifting sand 

 a firm bank against the en- 

 croachments of the sea. So 

 well was its value appre- 

 ciated in the olden time that 

 Acts of Parliament were is- 

 sued, first in Scotland and 

 then in England also, forbid- 

 ding any to molest or injure 

 the Sea Matweed on pain of 

 heavy fines and penalties. It was forbidden even to 

 gather the spikes or leaves of the plant or to havejmy 

 part of it in one's possession. These laws have not been 

 disannulled, but they have long fallen into disuse, for 

 we find in the Kew Museum and elsewhere articles of 

 domestic use made from the stems of Sea Matweed ; 

 mats, baskets, and ropes are occasionally manufactured 

 from this plant, and every stem thus used is a distinct 

 infraction of the law. 



The Sea Matgrass is common in the Orkney Islands 

 and all along the coast of Scotland, it is equally common 

 along the coasts of England. In Lapland, Sweden, 



