GRAMINEiE. 



977 



1. Cord Spartina. Spartina stricta, Sm. (Pig. 1186.) 

 (Dactylis, Eng. Bot. t. 380. Cordgrass*) 



A stiff, erect Grass, with a creeping 

 rootstock, and rather short, erect leaves* 

 flat, excepting at the end, when fresh, 

 the edges always rolled inwards when 

 dry. Panicle 3 or 4 inches long, con- 

 sisting of from 2 to 4 erect, spike-like 

 branches ; spikelets arranged alternately 

 in two rows along these branches, sessile 

 in a groove on the axis, all erect but 

 turning to one side, each spikelet 6 to 

 8 lines long. Glumes thin but stiff, 

 pointed or rather obtuse ; the first empty 

 one 3 or 4 lines long; the second about 

 half an inch, and often hairy ; the flower- 

 ing glume similar but scarcely so long ; 

 the palea again rather longer. The smell 

 of the whole plant is strong and dis- 

 agreeable. 



In muddy salt-marshes, along the 

 shores of the Atlantic ; common in North 

 America, less so in western Europe, and 

 very local on the Mediterranean as well as the North Sea. In Britain, 

 only on the southern and eastern coasts of England. Fl. summer and 

 autumn. A luxuriant variety, with long leaves, long slender spikes, 

 and nearly glabrous glumes, has been described as a species under the 

 names of S. glabra or S. alterniflora (Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2812), but 

 in North America, where it is frequent, it passes gradually into the 

 more common form. In Britain, this variety has been found on the 

 coast of Hampshire near Southampton. 



Fig. 1186. 



XXIII. LEPTURUS. LEPTURUS. 



Spikelets 1-flowered (or, in some exotic species, 2-flowered) awnless, 

 inserted singly in notches on alternate sides of a simple slender spike, 

 the axis jointed at each notch. Outer glumes 2, hard and ribbed ; 

 flowering glumes very thin. Stamens 3 and styles 2, as in most genera 

 of Grasses. 



A genus of very few species, chiefly seacoast plants, widely dispersed 

 over the greater part of the globe. 



* The name of Cordgrass would, however, be more appropriately restricted to the 

 south European Lygeum Sjpartum. 



VOL. II. 2 o 



