85 



The name, from the Greek scleros, hard, and chloa, grass, is signifi- 

 cant of the harsh, almost wiry character of the stems. 



ScLBEOCHLOA MARiTiMA. Creeping Sea Hard Grass. Plate LXVIII. 



Panicle erect, the lowermost branches in pairs or simple. Spikelets 

 linear, adpressed, five- to eight- or ten-flowered. Lower palea obtuse, 

 apiculate, the mid-vein reaching the point. Leaves convolute. Roots 

 stoloniferous. 



Sclerochloa maritima, Lindley. Babington. Glyceria, maritima, 

 Smith. Poa maritima, Hudson. E. B. 1140 ; ed. 2. 122. 

 Hooker and Arnott. Parnell. Bentham. 



Frequent in saline marshes and rather moist sandy places on the 

 sea-coast, often spreading widely by means of its creeping scions or 

 stolones. Stems decumbent at first, and rooting at the joints, after- 

 wards ascending and erect, more, or less compressed, a foot or more in 

 height. Leaves generally involute, occasionally fiat, rather short, hard 

 and almost pungent at the apex. Ligule obtuse, ovate. Panicle rigid, 

 nearly unilateral, three- to five-inches long ; the lower branches in 

 pairs, or sometimes, in luxuriant specimens, two or three together, 

 upper ones often simple, all tending to an erect position after flowering, 

 rarely widely spreading during the latter period, and never deflexed. 

 Spikelets linear, shortly stalked, usually six- or eight-flowered. Glumes 

 rather acute, or at least pointed, three-veined ; the outer or lower one 

 shorter, and neither of them reaching the apex of the lowermost flower. 

 Palese nearly equal, the lower one five-veined, the upper two-veined. 



Perennial. Flowers in July. 



Distributed on most sea-coasts of the northern hemisphere, from 

 the latitude of the Mediterranean to the Arctic Circle. 



Sclerochloa distans. Reflexed Hard Grass. Plate LXIX. 



Panicle erect ; its branches slender, distantly whorled, spreading, 

 eventually deflexed. Spikelets linear, three- to six-flowered. Lower 

 palea obtuse, the mid-vein not reaching the apex. Leaves flat. Root 

 fibrous (not stoloniferous). 



Sclerochloa. distans, Babington. Glyceria distans. Smith. Poa distans, 

 Linnaeus. E. B.9S6; ed. 2. 121. Hooker and Arnott. Parnell. 

 Bentham. Festuca distans, Kunth. 



Far from being an uncommon grass, in England especially, though 

 less generally distributed in these islands than the preceding species. 

 While the latter prefers moist habitats, the present is always found on 

 dry ground, and though more frequent near the sea, appears equally 

 at home in barren sandy situations, far inland. Wherever met with, 

 it forms tufts, springing from a clustered fibrous root, without any 

 tendency to the creeping or stoloniferous habit. Stems sometimes 



