Nardus.] LXXXIX. GRAMINE^E. 527 



purplish hue. Each spikelet has a single narrow glume, 3 or 4 lines 

 long, ending in a fine point, and enclosing a palea, 3 stamens, and a 

 simple style. 



On moors, heaths, and hilly pastures, in northern and Arctic Europe 

 and Russian Asia, and in the mountains of central and southern Europe 

 to the Caucasus. Common in Britain. FL summer. 



XXV. ELYMUS. LYMEGKASS. 



Spikelets 2- to 4-flowered, awnless, sessile in pairs (or, in exotic 

 species, 3 or 4 together) in the notches of a simple spike. 



A small genus, spread over the temperate and cooler parts of the 

 northern hemisphere, differing from Hordium in that all the spikelets 

 contain more than one flower. 



1. E. arenarius, Linn. (fig. 1208). Lymegrass. — A stiff, glaucous 

 perennial, 2 to 4 feet high, with a long creeping rootstock. Leaves 

 stiff, rolled inwards on the edges, ending in a hard point. Spike some- 

 times rather dense, 3 or 4 inches long, sometimes lengthening to 8 or 9 

 inches, with the spikelets in rather distant pairs, each containing 3 

 or 4 flowers. Glumes lanceolate, stiff, downy or rarely glabrous ; the 

 outer ones 8 or 9 lines long, and very pointed ; the flowering ones 

 gradually shorter, broader, and less pointed. 



In maritime sands, common in the temperate and colder regions of 

 the northern hemisphere, more local on the Mediterranean and in hotter 

 climates, and occurring occasionally in inland central Europe, North 

 Asia, and North America. Fl. summer. A singular variety, with the 

 spike much elongated, the spikelets distant, and the glumes often 

 enlarged and abruptly bent down, has been distinguished under the 

 name of E. geniculatus, Curt. It is met with on the coasts of Holland 

 and Scandinavia, and was formerly on the Thames below Gravesend. 



XXVI. HORDEUM. BARLEY. 



Spikelets 3 together, sessile on alternate notches of a simple spike, 

 1 or 2 of them consisting each of 2 glumes, either empty or with male 

 or rudimentary flowers, the 2 or 1 others containing each 1 perfect 

 flower ; the empty glumes of the 3 spikelets often reduced to mere 

 awns, and forming a kind of involucre round the flowering glume. 



A genus of few species, dispersed over the temperate regions of both 

 hemispheres, chiefly in maritime districts, and rare in the tropics. The 

 origin of the 2 or 3 cultivated species has not been as yet satisfactorily 

 made out. 



Flowers of the 2 lateral spikelets perfect; of the central one 



male, or rudimentary, or none 1. fl". sylvatieiim. 



Flowers of the central spikelet perfect ; of the lateral ones male, 

 or rudimentary, or none. 

 Outer glumes of all the spikelets awn-like from the base . . 2. fl. pratense. 

 Outer glumes of the central spikelet lanceolate, and ciliate at 



the base ; of the others awn-like from the base ... 3. fl. murinum. 



