﻿8 GRASSES OF SCOTLAND. 



SPECIES. 

 1. Nardus stricta.* 

 Mat- Grass. 



Specific Characters. — Lower leaves more than twice the length of 

 their sheaths, (Plate II.) 



Description. — It grows from five to eight inches high. The root 

 is perennial, with numerous strong, downy fibres, surrounded at the 

 base with a tuft of old leaves. Stem erect, compressed and smooth, 

 (occasionally roughish) bearing four or five leaves with smooth, stri- 

 ated sheaths, the upper sheath longer than its leaf, crowned with an 

 acute membranous ligule ; lower sheaths much shorter than their 

 leaves. Joints situated low down the stem. Leaves involute, bristle- 

 shaped, roughish at their margins, acute, striated, harsh, rigid, slight- 

 ly curved, and suddenly divaricating from their sheaths. Inflores- 

 cence spiked. Spike erect, close, especially before and after flowering. 

 Spikelets lanceolate, acute, of a purplish tinge, of one floret ; arranged 

 in two rows on one side of the rachis only, leaving the opposite side 

 perfectly bare. Calyx none. Florets of two palese (Fig. 1), the outer 

 palea tipped with a short rough awn ; without lateral ribs ; the keel 

 and margins minutely toothed. Inner palea membranous, linear 

 lanceolate, entire, about one- third shorter than the outer palea. Fila- 

 ments slender, shorter than the palea. Anthers oblong. Ovarium 

 oblong, slender. Style one. Stigma one, long and feathery. Seed 

 one, linear and pointed at each end. 



Ohs. — This grass to the agriculturist is considered to be compa- 

 ratively of no value, as it is but seldom eaten by cattle, owing to the 

 rigid, harsh, and wiry texture of the leaves. It is common on dry 

 moors and heaths throughout the whole of Scotland, England, and 

 Ireland, as well as in Lapland, Norway, Sweden, and Germany. It is 

 found in the most northern parts of North America, but is unknown 



* Nardus stricla, Linneeus. Leers's Flora Herbornensis. Koch's Synopsis Florae 

 Germanicae et Helveticae. Knapp's Gramma Britannica. Smith's English Flora. 

 Sowerby's English Botany. Sinclair's Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis. Hooker's Bri- 

 tish Flora. Hooker's Flora Scotica. Lindley's Synopsis of the British Flora. Gre- 

 viile's Flora Edinensis. 



