49 



CALAMAGEOSTIS EPIGEJOS. 



EOTH. LiNDLET. KoCH. HoOKBE. PaENELL. 



PLATE XV. A. 



Arundo epigejos, . Smith. LinNjEus. Willdenow. 



" " KUAPP. SCHEADBE. EhEHAET. 



" ealamagrostis, Hookee. Li&htfoot. Hudson. 



Calamagrostis lanceolata, WlTHBElNa, (not of E,OTH.) 



The Wood Reed. 



Calamagrostis — Palm Grass. Epigejos — Upon — The earth, 



(from the Greek.)* ' 



Calamageostis. Adanson.- — Of Calamagrostis there are three British 

 species, all growing in moist situations. In C. epigejos and C. striata the 

 panicle is upright and close; in C. lanceolate it i&\oose. Spikelets laterally 

 compressed. Two almost equal-sized glumes. Two membranaceous glumeUas. 

 Name derived from the Greek, signifying the Palm Grass, a very inappro- 

 priate name. 



The Calamagrostis epigejos is by no means a common Grass, 

 growing in damp woods and «hady ditches. 



It is to be met with in Dalrymple Wood, Ayr; and in Argyle 

 and Aberdeenshire, Scotland; and near St. Ann's Wells, Not- 

 tingham, although rare. The last locality is from the authority 

 of Mr. J. Sidebotham. Also in Somerset, Dorset, Sussex, Kent, 

 Surrey, Middlesex, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Bedford, 

 Oxford, Leicester, Wai-wick, Worcester, Shropshire, Lincoln, 



• This slioiild be spelt and pronounced Epigeios, with the g hard. The term is 

 intended to characterize the species as one that grows on the land, as distinguished 

 from the sea or from watery places. Linnseus gives as its habitat "Dnj hills, banks, 

 and corners of fields." Withering, Hudson, Babington, and other botanists speak of 

 "moist shady places, wet hedges," etc. Two localities in which it was found near 

 KTottingham, by Dr. Howitt and Dr. Wilson, are dry. Doubtless it does grow in Tmist 

 places, but differs from the other Reed Grasses in not being limited to such places, as 

 they are. Hence the propriety of the specific terra "Hpigeios." 



