136 THE SAND STRAND FLORA 



Varies somewhat, being shorter and more rigid in some places with 

 shorter, stiffer, and more distinctly distichous leaves. 



Common near salt and brackish water in America, Tasmania, and 

 Australia. Characteristic on coastal dunes of Victoria and South 

 Australia. 



Elymus arenarius L. 



Glaucus perennial grass, with stout, widely creeping stoloniferous 

 rootstock; stems tall, rigid, stout, erect, 1 — 2 m. high; sheaths smooth, 

 channeled; ligule a narrow truncate ring; blades 30 — 45 cm. long, 

 10 — 15 mm. wide, flat of with more or less convolute margins below. 



Coastal sands of northern hemisphere. In North America from 

 Greenland and Labrador to Alaska, southward to Maine, Lake Superior 

 and California (San Francisco). Occasionally inland also in Europe. 



Festuca litoralis Lab. 



Stems 3 — 10 dm. high, forming dense tufts of pale yellow color; 

 leaves almost cylindrical, erect, rigid, pungent-pointed, glabrous, length 

 of the stem. 



Common on coastal sand dunes of New Zealand and adjacent, islands, 

 Tasmania and Australia, from Wide Bay, Queensland, to Western 

 Australia. 



F. ovina L. 



Perennial, densely tufted, 15 — 50 cm. high; leaves radical, narrow, 

 almost cylindrical. 



Common on established dunes, but not confined to coast. 



F. rubra L. var. arenaria Osbeck. . 



Perennial, with creeping rootstock, shooting stout, reddish stolons; 

 stems ascending, rigid, hairy; leaves stiff, on upper side grayish green, 

 darker beneath. Eesembles much Agropyrum junceum. 



Common on the coasts of Baltic. 



F. uniglumis Sol. 

 Annual, tufted, 10 — 15 cm. high; leaves narrow, convolute. 

 On sandy shores of Mediterranean and on coast of Western Europe 

 northward to England. 



Glycerin maritima Reich. 

 Perennial, with creeping rootstock; stems decumbent or erect, 2—6 

 dm. high; leaves smooth, glabrous, short, narrow, convolute; sheaths 

 exceeding internodes. 



