GRAMINEjE. 



1017 



an inch broad, all the way up the stem. 

 Panicle from a few inches to a foot long, 

 with numerous branches, more or less 

 drooping, of a purplish-brown colour, 

 Spikelets very numerous, narrow, above 

 6 lines long. Outermost glume lanceo- 

 late, concave, about 1J lines long, and 

 empty ; the second narrower, and twice 

 that length ; the third still longer, and 

 also empty, or with 1 or 2 stamens only ; 

 and all 3 without hairs outside. Above 

 are 2 or 3 flowering glumes about the 

 same length, but narrower, ending in 

 an almost awn-like point, and surrounded 

 by silky hairs which lengthen much as 

 the seed ripens, giving the panicle a 

 beautiful silvery appearance. 



In wet ditches, marshes, and shallow 

 waters, almost all over the world, from 

 the tropics to the Arctic Zone. Com- 

 mon in Britain. FL end of summery and 

 autumn. 



Fig. 1239. 



Class III. CRYPTOGAMS. 



No real flowers, that is, neither stamens, nor pistils, nor true 

 seeds, the fructification consisting of minute, often highly micro- 

 scopic granules, called Spores, variously enclosed in sessile or 

 stalked capsules, or imbedded within the substance of the plant, 

 the capsules themselves sometimes so small as to be scarcely 

 visible without the aid of a microscope. 



The few British Cryptogams which are included in the present 

 work have all of them roots, and stems or rootstocks, very similar in 

 structure to those of some Monocotyledons, and in some the leaves 

 are also nearly the same, but in others the leaves are more or less 

 converted into fruiting branches, bearing the fructification on their 

 surface or edges, and are therefore now generally distinguished from 

 true leaves by the name of fronds. In the remaining families of 

 Cryptogams, called Cellular, there is either no distinct stem, or the 

 stem does not contain any fibres or vascular tissue. None of these can 

 be readily determined wihout the use of high magnifying powers, and 



VOL. II. 2 R 



