36 TWO NEW GRASSES. 



is found in sandy places and sandy thickets in that depart- 

 ment, and also in Gironde, Charente-Inferieure, and Vendee, 

 but it is a rare plant. North of Vendee it only reappears on 

 the coast of the Netherlands, certainly in South Holland, 

 possibly in Belgium also. Oudemans {Flora van Nederland, 

 iii. 475 — 1874) records it for the neighbourhood of Katwijk, 

 the dunes near Overveen, and also near Wassenaar and 

 Scheveningen, in Nordwijk. These localities are given in all 

 the Dutch Floras, and there are specimens from Scheveningen 

 in the British Museum. Van Hall (Spec. Bot. 32 — 1821, and 

 Flora Belgii Septentrionalis i. 55 — 1825) records it, but gives 

 no localities for Belgium. Dumortier ( Observations snr les 

 Graminees de la Flore Belgiqne — 1823) says, " Plant am hanc 

 rarissimam mecum communicaverunt amici van Pees et van 

 Hall," but gives no localities. Parlatore {Flora Italica, i. 155 

 — 1848) says, " E stata trovata in Belgio, in Francia," &c. 

 Nyman gives Belgium only on Parlatore's authority, and the 

 modern Belgian Floras omit it. Husnot (Graminees de 

 France, Belgiqne, lies Britanniques, Suisse, 1897) remarks 

 that it is " indique en Belgique par Parlatore ; il est tres 

 douteux que cette espece y ait ete reellement trouvee." 



The most noteworthy points about M. scabrum in North- 

 west Europe are, that it does not occur between Vendee and 

 the Netherlands, that it grows on sand, and that it is generally 

 much taller than the Guernsey plant ( Culmi pedal es — Dumort. : 

 culmo vix pedali — v. Hall : spithamaaum — Reichb. : chaume 

 de 2-3 dec. — Lloyd). There are other plants which do not 

 come further up the French coast than Finistere, and yet are 

 found in Guernsey — e. g., Ornithopus ebracteatus (also in« 

 Alderney and Scilly Islands), Ophioglossum lusitanicum, and 

 Isoetes Hystrix. The reappearance of M. scabrum in the 

 Netherlands shows that there is no inherent improbability of 

 its being native in Guernsey. Several plants which usually 

 grow on sand are found on the Guernsey cliffs — e. g., Romulea 

 Columnce and Juncus capitatus, both of which grow near 

 M. scabrum. Many of the cliff plants are much dwarfed, and 

 I am told by a resident in Pome that M. scabrum grows there 

 on walls, and is no larger than my Guernsey specimens. 



I can see no reason to doubt that these two grasses are 

 native in the Channel Islands, and should therefore be included 

 in the British Flora with Cynosurus echinatus, Lagurus ovatus, 

 and Bromus maximus. Their discovery only serves to empha- 

 size a fact which hardly needed emphasizing — viz., that the 

 Channel Islands are, geologically and botanically, a part of 

 France and not of Britain. 



