Spartina. 



GRAMINEiE. 



449 



3. Spartina alterniflora, Loisel. Smooth Marsh-grass. 



Leaves channelled, erect ; spikes numerous, elongated, sessile, appressed ; glumes and 

 paleaj nearly smooth ; styles distinct nearly to the base. — Loisel. fl. Gall. 2. p. 719 (1807), 

 fide Hook. ; Bromf. in Hook. comp. hot. mag. 2. p. 254. S. glabra, Muhl. gram. p. 54 ; Ell. 

 sk. 1. p. 95 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 25 ; Tori', fl. 1. p. 70; Beck, hot. p. 417. S. laevigata, 

 "Link, jahrb. 3. p. 92"; Kunth, enum. 1. p. 278. S. polystachya, Trin. diss. 1. p. 163, 

 not of Willd. Dactylis maritima, Walt. fl. Car. p. 77. 



Rhizoma creeping extensively. Culm 3-5 feet high, erect, terete, tender and somewhat 

 succulent, of a yellowish green color. Leaves broad at the base, continuous with the loose 

 open sheaths, tapering to a long point, mostly overtopping the spikes : ligule a bearded ring. 

 Spikes 6 - 14, unequal, closely appressed to the common rachis ; each partial rachis produced 

 beyond the summit of the spike, into a long subulate point. Glumes very unequal ; the 

 upper one-half or one-third longer than the lower, sometimes sparingly and minutely spinulose 

 on the keel, as seen under a lens. Palea? linear-lanceolate, unequal : lower one shorter ; the 

 upper about the length of the larger glume. Stamens 3. Styles filiform, sometimes shining, 

 but not united except toward the base. 



Borders of salt marshes, and muddy places within the reach of salt or brackish water, 

 mostly in places that are overflowed with the tide. Fl. August - September. This species 

 grows also in France and in England, but only in a single locality in each country, where it 

 may have been introduced from North America in ballast. It is greedily eaten by horses and 

 cattle ; but its strong, rancid smell, affects (says Elliott) the breath, milk, butter, and even 

 the flesh of the cattle that feed on it. For thatching, it much outlasts wheat straw. 



26. BOUTELOUA. Lagasca, " varied, de Cienc." bouteloua. 



[Probably named after some obscure Spanish botanist.] 

 Eutriana, Trin.; Dineba, Bcauv.; Atheropogon, Muhl. 



Spikes short, disposed in a raceme. Spikelets unilateral, nearly sessile, alternate, 2-3- 

 fiowered ; the terminal flower imperfect. Glumes 2, membranaceous, keeled ; the upper 

 one larger, shorter than the flowers. Paleas 2, the lower one 3-cleft, the segments subulate 

 or awned. Abortive flower pedicellate. — Rachis produced beyond the summit of the spikes. 



1. Bouteloua racemosa, Lag. Racemed Bouteloua. 



Culm erect ; spikes numerous, racemose, rather distant, somewhat reflexed ; spikelets 2- 

 (rarely 3-) flowered ; lower palea of the perfect flower tricuspidate ; abortive flower with 

 3 bristles. — Lag. I. c. Chloris curtipendula, Michx. fl. 1. p. 159 ; Willd. sp. 4. p. 927. 

 Atheropogon apludoides, Muhl. in Willd. sp. I. c. and gram. p. 287 ; Pursh, fl. I. p. 75 ; 

 [Flora — Vol. 2.] 57 



