83 



Fig. 61. Ammopliila arenaria (L.) Link. (A. arundinacea Host) . BEACH- 

 GRASS, MARRAM-GRASS.— a, A single spikelet; b, the same with the empty 

 glumes removed showing the hairy callus and short prolongation of the 

 rachilla 



61. AMMOPHILA Host Gram. Austr. 4: 24, t. hi. 1809. Spikelets 1-flow- 

 ered, hermaphrodite, rather large; rachilla produced beyond the floret into 

 a short bristle, which is plumose above. Glumes 3, chartaceous, strongly 

 compressed-keeled, awnless; the first two empty, acute, slightly unequal, 

 and faintly 5-nerved; the 3d or flowering glume similar to the outer ones, 

 slightly 2-toothed at the apex, and mucronate between the teeth. Palea as 

 long as the floral glume, and of similar texture, 2-keeled, and deeply furrowed 

 between the keels. Stamens 3. Styles distinct; stigmas plumose. Grain 

 obovoid, loosely inclosed within the flowering glume and palea, free. A coarse, 

 erect perennial, with creeping rhizomes, rigid culms and leaves, and narrow, 

 densely-flowered, spike-like panicles. 



Species 1, on the sandy seashores of Europe, the Atlantic coast of North 

 America south to Virginia, and also on the shores of the Great Lakes. 



