29 



founded them ; Withering, one of the most circumstantial writers 

 of his time, has certainly done so under his Agrostis littoralis. 



Sir J. E. Smith seems to have been the first who recognized 

 P. littoralis as a British Grass, and it was, for some time after its 

 discovery, regarded as a plant peculiar to England. It is now 

 known as a native of Germany and some other parts of Europe, 

 and its migration to our coasts may have been simultaneous with 

 that of its congener, though circumstances hitherto have not been 

 favourable to its equal distribution. 



The magnified figures on Plates XXIII. and XXIV., lettered 

 correspondingly, will illustrate the generic character and the dif- 

 ferential features of the two species described. 



Genus 13. CALAMAGROSTIS. Small-Keed. 



Gen. Char. Inflorescence loosely panicled. Spikelets laterally 

 compressed, one-flowered. Glumes two, nearly equal ; much 

 longer than the flower, which is ^surrounded at the base by 

 numerous long silky hairs. Paleae two ; the lower one usually 

 awned. 



These Grasses originally composed a portion of the genus 

 Arundo, from which they were separated by Adanson, chiefly on 

 account of their spikelets being single-flowered. The separation 

 is, 'however, purely conventional, and only admissible on the 

 ground of utility ; the presence of a second and, occasionally, even 

 of a third flower, in the rudimentary state, being indicative of the 

 close natural affinity which our classification tends to violate. 

 The other differential characters are of trifling value. 



The name adopted is that of the assumed typical species, Arundo 

 Calamagrostis of Linnaeus. It is a barbarous Greek compound de- 

 nomination, under which the plant in question was known among 

 the earlier botanists, derived from calamos, a kind of Palm, and 

 agrastis, a term applied to grasses generally. 



They are grasses of coarse texture, growing in wet woods and 

 shady places in marshy ground, and are of no immediate value in 

 an agricultural point of view, being generally left untouched by 

 cattle. Our native species are very limited in their distribution. 



Calamagbostis Epigejos. Wood Small- Reed. Plate XXV. 



Panicle erect; its branches more or less compact or expanded. 

 Flowers crowded, unilaterally disposed. Glumes subulate, rough 

 on the keel. Basal hairs longer than the palese. Awn from the 

 middle of the outer palea, and nearly equal to it in length. 



Calamagrostis Epigejos, Roth. Adopted by most modern writers. 

 Arundo Epigejos, Linrueus. E. B. 403; ed. 2. 168. 



