ELYMUS. 



199 



fibres, hold fast the drifting sand-banks, and the stiff 

 stems and leaves collect the sand which every breeze 

 carries along in clouds, thus forming an ever heightening 

 embankment. This grass is 

 included with the Sea Reed 

 under the popular term Mar- 

 ram, and along with it pro- 

 tected by Act of Parliament. 

 The Dutch understand their 

 utility well, and use every 

 effort to promote their 

 growth, gaining ground by 

 their means which without 

 them would have been deso- 

 lated or entirely washed 

 away by the spring-tides. 



The Sand Lyme-grass is 

 frequent on all the sandy 

 shores of Britain, Holland, 

 Lapland, Norway, Germany, 

 France, Portugal, Italy, Ice- 

 land, and British America. 



It flowers in July and ripens its seed in August. 



In Iceland, we are informed by Mr. Forbes, the 

 traveller, that this grass is the nearest approach to 

 a corn crop; its seeds are very wholesome, as indeed 

 are those of all the grasses with very rare exceptions, 

 and they are produced in good quantity, so that doubt- 

 less the bread made from their flour is by no means 

 despicable. 



Elymus arenarius, var. geniculatus, has usually been 

 treated as a distinct species, but Mr. Bentham prefers 

 regarding it as a variety only. It has the strong creep- 



