GKAMINEJE. 



979 



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 Rus- 

 sian Asia, and in the mountains of cen- 

 tral and southern Europe to the Cau- 

 casus. Common in Britain. FL sum- 



Fig. 1188. 



XXV. LYMEGRASS. ELYMUS. 



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 Barley in that all the spikelets 

 contain more than one flower. 



1. Sand Lymegrass. Elymus arenarius, Linn. (Fig. 1189.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1672. 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 sometimes rather dense, 3 to 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. Extends 

 all round the British Isles, but more frequent in the north than in the 



2 o2 



