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Ammophila arundinacea (Beach Grass; Sand Grass). 
This is Calamagrostis arenaria of the older books. The entire plant 
is of a whitish, or pale-green color. It grows on sandy beaches of the 
Atlantic, at least as far south as North Carolina, and on the shores of 
the Great Lakes, but has not, so far, been recorded from the Pacific 
coast. Italso grows on the sea-coast of the British Isles and of Europe. 
Tt forms tufts of greater or less extent, ‘‘its long, creeping roots extend- 
ing sometimes to the extent of 40 feet, and: bearing tubers the size of a 
pea, interlaced with death-like tenacity of grasp, and -form a net-work 
beneath the sand which resists the most vehement assault of the ocean 
waves.” The culms are from 2 to 3 feet high, rigid and solid; the leaves 
long, involute, smooth, stiff, and slender-pointed; the panicle is dense, 
6 to 10 inches long, close and spike-like; the spikelets are about half 
an inch long, compressed, crowded on very short branchlets. 
This grass has no agricultural value, but from time immemorial its 
utility in binding together the loose sands of the beaeh, and restrain- 
ing the inroads of the ocean, has been recognized and provided for in 
some places by law. Mr. Flint, in his work on “grasses, says that the 
town and harbor of Provincetown, once called Cape Cod, where the 
Pilgrims first landed, one of the largest and most important harbors of 
the United States, sufficient in depth for ships of largest size, and in 
extent to anchor three thousand vessels at once, owe their preservation 
to this grass. The usual way of propagating the grass is by transplant- 
ing the roots. Itis pulled up by hand and placed in a hole about a 
foot deep and the sand pressed around it by the foot. There are un- 
doubtedly many places on the sea-coast where this grass would be of — 
‘inestimable value in restraining the encroachment of the ocean. It 
would also be useful in forming a dense turf for the protection of dikes 
and banks subject to water-washing. 
CALAMAGROSTIS. 
This genus is characterized by having one-flowered spikelets, with the addition 
at: the base of the flowering glume of a small hairy appendage or pedicel, which is 
considered to be the rudiment of a second flower. In addition to this the flower is 
also generally surrounded at the base with a ring of soft hairs, and the flowering 
glume usually bears an awn on its back, which is generally bent and twisted. 
In this genus there are two sections, viz: Ist, Deyeuxia, in which there is a small 
hairy pedicel in front of the palet of the single perfect flower; the glumes thin and 
membranaceous. In thissection are most of our North American species. 2d, Calamo- 
vilfa, in which the glumes and palet are thicker and more compressed, and the sterile’ 
pedicel or rudiment is wanting. 
Calamagrostis (Deyeuxia) Canadensis (Blue-joint; Smali Reed Grass). 
A stout, erect, tall perennial grass, growing chiefly in wet, boggy 
ground or in low, moist meadows. Its favorite situation is in cool, ele- 
vated regions. It prevails in all the northern portions of the United — 
States, in the Rocky Mountains, and in British America. In those dis- 
tricts it is one of the best and most productive of the indigenous grasses. 
