190 



BRITISH GRASSES. 



leaves flat, pointed, rigid, pungent, glaucous, hairy ; sheaths 

 smooth, ribbed ; ligule absent, a tuft of hairs in its place ; 

 inflorescence digitate ; spikes short, from three to five in 

 number ; rachis zigzag and angular ; spikelets solitary, al- 

 ternate, close-pressed, on one side of the rachis only ; outer 

 glumes nearly equal, lanceolate, acute, without lateral ribs, 

 toothed on the upper part of the keel; flowering glume 

 compressed, polished, beardless, longer than the outer 

 glumes, without lateral ribs ; palea long but narrower, 

 rough at the edges ; stamens three, pendulous ; styles long ; 

 stigmas feathery. 



Mr. Brown describes the rudiment of a second floret 



at the base of the palea, 

 situated on a long hair-like 

 footstalk, the end of which 

 is thickened. 



The clustering spikes of 

 this Creeping Cynodon, and 

 the purple tint of its orderly 

 rows of spikelets, gives it 

 both a marked and a pleasing 

 appearance ; its foliage is 

 not graceful, the stem-leaves 

 standing at an angle of 

 45° from the stem, stiff and 

 regular, never deviating into 

 curves or drooping. The 

 slender spikes vary from an inch to an inch and a hal 

 in length, and the height of the plant is from three to 

 six inches. The foliage is of a glaucous green, which 

 contrasts agreeably with the purple spikes. It is found 

 only on the sandy shores of Cornwall. 



But although a rare and little-known plant in Britain 



