36 BRITISH SPECIES 
stock. Leaves narrow, firm, and more or less involute, the upper 
surface clothed with fine short hairs, ribs very prominent and un- 
equal; ligule short. All parts of the plant are glaucous. Culms 
13ft. Spike long and arching, the rachis stout but fragile, and 
readily breaking at the joints. Spikelets solitary in the notches of 
the rachis and broadside to it, $-1 inch long, pale green, 4- to 8- 
flowered ; glumes rigid, awnless, with a blunt truncate or notched 
tip, and faintly nerved. Perennial, flowering early July. 
There are two maritime forms of Agropyrum, intermediate 
between this species and A. regens, and distinguishable chiefly by 
the structure of the leaves. 4. fungens has erect culms in dense 
tufts ; leaves involute and rigid, with thick, prominent ribs, scabrid 
on the upper surface with a row of asperities on each rib. Spike 
compact, erect. This form is scarce, growing on the banks of tidal 
rivers. A. acutum has decumbent stems in loose tufts; leaves 
similar, but with less prominent ribs, and rough with scattered 
asperities, not in rows. Spike Jax and slightly arching. It grows 
in sandy ground, and is rather scarce. In neither of these forms 
is the rachis brittle, nor have the leaves a close pile of hairs. 
Spikelets 5- to 12-flowered. 
Festuca rubra, the Creeping Fescue, is of frequent occurrence 
all round our coasts. Rootstock not tufted, but extensively creep- 
ing with long stolons—a habit which distinguishes it from the 
nearly related /. duriuscula. It is further known by the firmer 
and broader, but more or less involute, glaucous leaves with 
several thick ribs ; basal sheaths downy and purplish-red. Pan- 
icle drooping, spikelets Sinch long. Perennial, flowering latter 
part of June, July. 
Elymus arenarius, the Sea Lyme-grass, is distributed rather 
sparingly around our coasts. Rootstock stout, creeping and sto- 
loniferous. The whole plant is intensely glaucous and is readily 
known from all our other maritime grasses by its large, broad, flat 
leaves, with numerous prominent equal ribs ; auricled; ligule very 
short. Culms 3-4 ft. Spike stout, 6-12 inches long, erect. Spike- 
lets 1 inch long, in pairs or threes, seated broadside in excavations 
of the rachis, 2- or 3-flowered : glumes rigid, subequal, terminating 
in a mucro, the flowering ones hairy. Perennial, flowering July. 
Poa bulbosa, the Bulbous Meadow-grass, is found locally in S.E. 
England, growing on the sand and fine shingle of the shore; 
abundant on Yarmouth Denes, Norfolk. Rootstock densely 
tufted, the base of each shoot swollen and bulb-like. Leaves short, 
narrow and curved, margins scabrid. Culms about 6 inches high, 
swollen at base. Panicle 1-14 inches long, close, the branches 
mostly in pairs. Spikelets about 2 inch long, usually 4-flowered ; 
glumes keeled, compressed and awnless, the flowering ones silky- 
hairy, and webbed. Perennial, flowering April to June. This grass 
is propagated by its bulbs ; towards autumn they become detached 
and are blown about the sands ; eventually they strike root. 
Ammophila baltica, the Baltic Sea-reed, has only one British 
station, Ross Links, on the Northumbrian coast (opposite Holy 
