49 



CALAMAGROSTIS EPIGEJOS. 



KOTH. LlNDLEY. KoCH. HoOKEE. PaRNELL. 

 PLATE XV. A. 



Arundo epigejos, Smith. Linn^etts. Willdenow. 



" " KnaPP. ScirKADEB. ElTRHAET. 



" calamagrostis, Hookee. Ligiitfoot. Hudson. 



Calamagrostis lanceolala, Witheeiug, (not of Rotii.) 



The Wood Reed. 



Calamagrostis — Palm. Grass. JEpigcjus — Upon — The earth, 



(from the Greek.)* 



Calamagrostis. Adanson. — Of Calamagrostis there are three British 

 species, all growing in moist situatious. In 0. epigejos and C. stricla the 

 panicle is upright and close; in C. lanceolate it is loose. Spikelets laterally 

 compressed. Two almost equal-sized glumes. Two membranaceous ghimellas. 

 Name derived from the Greek, signifying the Palm Grass, a very inappro- 

 priate name. 



The Calamagrostis epigejos is by no means a common Grass, 

 growing in damp woods and shady ditches. 



It is to be met with in Dalrymple Wood, Ayr; and in Argyle 

 and Aberdeenshire, Scotland; and near St. Ann's Wells, Not- 

 tingham, although rare. The last locality is from the authority 

 of Mr. J. Sidebotham. Also in Somerset, Dorset, Sussex, Kent, 

 Surrey, Middlesex, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Bedford, 

 Oxford, Leicester, Warwick, Worcester, Shropshire, Lincoln, 



* This should be spelt and pronounced Epigeios, with the g hard. The term is 

 intended to characterize the species as one that grows on the land, as distinguished 

 from the sea or from watery places. Linnfeus gives as its habitat "Dry hills, banks, 

 and corners of fields." Withering, Hudson, Babington, and other botanists speak of 

 "moist shady places, wet hedges," etc. Two localities in which it was found near 

 Nottingham, by Dr. Howitt and Dr. Wilson, are dry. Doubtless it does grow in moist 

 places, but differs from the other Keed Grasses in not being limited to such places, as 

 they are. Hence the propriety of the specific term "Epigeios." 



