196 BRITISH GRASSES. 



on the Irish coast, and that of England and Wales, and 

 also on the shores of the Mediterranean. 



The flowers appear in July, the seeds five or six weeks 

 later. 



There is a slender variety, called filiformis, found in 

 salt-marshes in the neighbourhood of Aberlady ; its stem 

 is compressed, and all its parts more delicate than in the 

 normal form. 



Genus XXIV. NARDUS. 



Gen. Char. Spikelets simple, of one floret; no outer 

 glumes ; flowering glume narrow, pointed, enclosing the 

 palea, which is smaller, narrow, and pointed ; no scales ; 

 filaments three, slender, shorter than the glume ; anthers 

 oblong, very slightly notched ; ovary oblong ; style single, 

 slender, long, downy ; stigma simple. 



Nardus stricta, Linn. Common Nard. 



(Matgrass, Eng. Bot.) 



Root perennial, composed of thick downy fibres ; stems 

 erect, rigid, slightly angular, smooth, naked, five to eight 

 inches high ; joints chiefly on the lower part ; leaves radical, 

 thickly tufted, linear, harsh, rigid, divaricating, their base 

 enveloped with scales externally, and crowned at the divari- 

 cation with the usual ligule ; inflorescence spiked ; spikes \ 

 slightly curving, close, except when in flower ; spikelets all 

 pointing one way, lanceolate, acute, bright purple, of one 

 floret in two rows on one side of the rachis ; outer glumes 

 absent ; flowering glume minute, toothed on keels and 

 margin, and tipped with a slight awn ; palea membrana- 

 ceous, narrow, lanceolate, entire, shorter than glume; fila- 

 ments slender ; anthers oblong, large, russet ; stigma fea- 

 thery ; seed pointed at each end. 



