THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 37 
AMMOPHILA—spike compact, glumes of nearly equal 
pointed valves, with a tuft of hairs at the base, in- 
cluding the glumel.—P. 
A. arundinacea—sea-reed, mat-grass—remarkable for its 
creeping rhizome, which we have obtained of as much as 30 
feet in length. It is a common denizen of the sea-side, and, 
from its peculiar growth, it operates very beneficially in 
keeping together the sands of the coast, on which account 
it is carefully looked after and preserved by Act of Parlia- 
ment. It may be worth a trial in some of the deep railway 
cuttings, especially where these occur in sandy clay, which 
renders them peculiarly liable to give way either from the 
rain of the wet season or the cracking which succeeds from 
the drought of summer. It is readily cultivated by joints 
or cuttings of the rhizome. 
Tt is of no agricultural value, as its coarse, rigid, sapless 
herbage is untouched by cattle. 
PuaLaRis—glumes of erect equal keeled valves, includ- 
ing the glumel, which adheres to and becomes part 
of the seed. 
P. canariensis—canary-grass—flowers in an oval spike— 
an annual grass, occurring in waste places and about the 
homestead, and probably introduced from its use as a food 
for canaries and other small birds, on which account it is 
cultivated in the neighbourhood of London and some of our 
larger towns for its seed. Itg cultivation is exceedingly 
easy, a light soil with a fine “tilth” being almost the only 
condition required. We have seen good crops on both 
elevated and low lands, as it is a grass which endures great 
variations of climate. 
P. arundinacea—reed canary-grass—flowers more or less 
densely paniculate. A perennial species, usually growing 
in water, in which it extends rapidly by its thick rhizome. 
Tts occurrence in hedge-rows and meadows is a sign of great” 
damp, which would be improved by drainage, when the 
species soon dies out. It is of no agricultural use; its 
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