Spartina  Townsendi  H.  &  J.  Groves 
Our  plate  shows  two  photographs  taken  by  Mr.  H.  S. 
Thompson,  F.L.S.,  on  a  salt-marsh  E.  of  Poole  Harbour  in 
September,  1910.  In  the  near  view  are  well  seen  the  dense 
character  of  the  clumps  and  the  rigid  leaves,  “sharp  as 
glass,”  as  an  Itchenor  boatman  described  them.  The 
more  distant  view  has  dense  masses  of  Spartina  with 
some  Scirpus  maritimus,  intermixed  with  mudflats 
colonised  by  scattered  clumps  of  Spartina,  which,  when 
the  process  is  further  advanced,  will  All  up  the  portions 
as  yet  unoccupied.  On  the  upper  limit  of  the  vertical 
range  of  the  Spartina  appears  Aster  Tripolium. 
Two  interesting  papers  on  Spartina  have  been 
written  by  Dr.  Otto  Stapf,  F.R.S.  One  is  printed  in  the 
“Gardener’s  Chronicle,”  Jan.  18,  1908,  (reprinted  in 
“Journ.  of  Bot.”  1908,  pp.  76-81):  the  other  appeared  in 
the  5th  Vol.  of  the  “Proceedings  of  the  Bournemouth 
Science  Society”  (reprinted  in  “Journ.  of  Bot.”  Sent 
1914,  p.  245).  y  ’ 
In  1918-1914  I  walked  round  the  sea  banks  and 
foreshore  from  Prinsted  to  West  Itchenor,  W.  Sussex, 
v.c.  18,  and  found  almost  all  the  mudflats  from  three- 
quarters  full  tide  level  to  within  about  3  ft.  of  high  tide 
mark  more  or  less  colonised  by  Spartina  Toivnsendi.  The 
smaller  mudcreeks  where  there  is  less  motion  of  the  tide 
encourage  the  spread  of  the  grass  in  dense  unbroken 
masses,  as  at  Nutbourne  and  above  Bosham.  Above  Dell 
Quay  the  advance  is  not  so  marked.  No  Spartina  alterni- 
jlora  Lois,  was  detected.  Dr.  Stapf ’s  map  marks  the 
eastern  limit  of  this  species  at  Hill  Head  (Titchfield 
Haven)  in  1908.  The  Rev.  F.  H.  Arnold,  in  his  «  Sussex 
Flora,  1907  (2nd  ed.,  published  postumously),  gives  “  S. 
alterniflora  Loisel.  Thorney,  not  far  from  Pilsey ;  first 
found  in  Sussex  by  me,  Sept.  18,  1900.”  Mr.  C.  E.  Salmon 
{hi  lit.  Nov.  14,  1914)  writes  “  Before  accepting  Arnold’s 
station  (“  Suss.  FI.”  1907,  p.  124),  I  would  wish  either  to 
see  a  specimen,  or  to  get  someone  to  confirm  the  locality” 
......“  Mr.  Standen  and  I  had  a  long  search  this  year  in 
this  particular  locality  for  S.  alterniflora.  We  saw  S. 
Toivnsendi  in  milliards,  and  S.  stricta  Roth,  in  hundreds. 
We  do  not  say  it  does  not  grow  there,  but  confirmation 
of  Arnold’s  station  is  desirable.” 
