141 



instead of being opposite to each other as in grasses generally, downy 

 or hairy, about equal in length to the contained flowers. Outer palea 

 nearly resembling the glumes, but broader, hairy, acute. 



Perennial. Flowers in July. 



In habit and general aspect this grass is so similar to the one with 

 which it is compared above, that an uninitiated observer would be very 

 likely to confound them, though widely differing in structure. When 

 in flower, this may be readily distinguished by its sessile, three- or four- 

 flowered spikelets, those of the other being stalked and only single- 

 flowered ; but, as the flowers of Elymus are not of very common 

 occurrence, like those of many other plants that rapidly extend them- 

 selves by off-sets from the root, attention should be directed to the 

 ligule, which in Ammophila anmdmacea is very long and pointed, 

 while in the grass before us it is short and obtuse. 



Although too rigid in texture, or otherwise unpalatable, to be eaten 

 by cattle, or, indeed, by the wild herbivorous animals, as hares and 

 rabbits. Sir H. Davy found it to contain a large proportion of saccha- 

 rine matter, obtaining from its juices and soluble compounds more 

 than one-third of their weight of sugar, a larger quantity than that 

 yielded by any of the more succulent pasture grasses of this country. 

 From this circumstance Mr. Sinclair considers it might rank as the 

 sugar-cane of Britain, and that "cut into chaff and mixed with 

 corn or common hay," it would prove very nutritious. Chemical 

 analysis, however, though it may determine favourably, as in this 

 instance, in regard to the quantity of foodful substance, does not 

 always indicate the fltness of the material examined for the purposes 

 of nourishment ; and animal instinct is generally a surer guide, as it is 

 unquestionably here. The quantity of crystalline silicious matter con- 

 tained in the stems and foliage of all the more rigid grasses, and 

 especially of those that vegetate in sea-sand, must always render them 

 unwholesome, on account of the mechanical injury it is liable to pro- 

 duce upon the lining membranes of the alimentary canal. As a 

 colonist and fixer of loose sand it is unsurpassed by any ; but as the 

 importance of its action as such is shared with others of corresponding 

 habit, to avoid repetition, the reader is referred to the remarks con- 

 cerning the value of its before-mentioned competitor, p, 15. 



Elymus geniculatus. Pendulous Sea Lyme Grass. Plate CXX. 



Spicate panicle bent perpendicularly downwards, lax. Spikelets 

 in pairs, rather distant. Rachis winged, glumes awl-shaped, glabrous, 

 longer than the spikelets. 



Elymus geniculatus, Curtis. E. B. 1586 ; ed. 2. 172. Generally 

 adopted. 



Found by the late Mr. Dickson, one of the most ardent and expe- 

 rienced botanists of his time, in a saltmarsh near Gravesend, Kent. 

 The habit and mode of growth are so exactly correspondent with those 



