LEPTURUS. 



195 



and ribbed, decumbent at the base, then ascending ; joints 

 smooth, basal one often throwing out branches ; leaves nar- 

 row, acute, rolled in, smooth ; spike long, narrow, slightly- 

 curved or erect, spikelets placed alternately on either side 

 of the rachis, containing one or two florets ; outer glumes 

 flattish, lanceolate, equal, pointed, stiff with four strong 

 green ribs, closed except when in flower ; flowering glume 

 shorter than outer ones ; both it and the palea are narrow, 

 delicate, and transparent ; scales pointed ; filaments slender ; 

 anthers pendulous, notched at both ends ; when two florets 

 are in one spikelet one of them is male and the other perfect ; 

 the seed is elliptical ; the spikelets are not merely sessile, 

 they are partially imbedded in hollows of the rachis, and the 

 seeds grow closely into this natural cradle, shut in securely 

 by the clasping outer glumes. 



This unattractive grass lifts its humble and slightly 

 curving spikes from salt- 

 marshes and muddy shores 

 unattractive as themselves; 

 you may chance to gather 

 it on firm reliable ground, 

 within hearing of the ad- 

 vancing tide, but out of the 

 reach of the rushing waves ; 

 but it is just as likely that 

 the ground where you seek 

 it was overflowed by the last 

 spring-tide, and is all washed 

 into holes and dangerous 

 with half-hardened mud. 



In such places, both near river-mouths in Cornwall 

 and on the Somersetshire shore, we have gathered the 

 Curved Lepturus, or Sea Hard-grass. It is abundant 



o 2 



