GRAMIXA. 
59 
Var. 0 is probably merely !i depaujierate state of Ph. coiiimiiuis, 
thouo-h the acute Dumortier admirs it as a species. In it the >tems are 
from 18 inches to '6 feet hi^u'h. Leaves 2 to 5 inches lonir by to § 
inch broad, more glaucous than in var. a. Panicle o to (5 inches lon<i:, 
with the spikelets blacker than in var. a. each containing a single 
male floret, sometimes with 1 female one above it. 
Var. y I have not seen. Dr. Bromtield describes it as springin,£; 
from the steep slipped banks of wet clav on the southern shores of the 
Isle of Wight, with the stems ''depending like long and ^lender ropes, 
or traihng in a straight or serpentine direction, on the >]nngly beach or 
smooth and level sand, and that without rooting at the joints, to the 
length of 20, or 4i), or even 50 feet. 1 have ne%er observed the ex- 
tremities of the stolons to blossom under these cireum-tunces, as indeed 
they could scarcely be expected to do with so exhausting a length of 
growth; the leaves too are very short, as if im[>crfectly deveh)[)ed, 
and occasionally a few radicles are emitted from one or other of the 
joints.''— " Phvtol.'' vol. i. p. 146- 
Common Heed. 
TuiBE IX.— STIPE.E. 
Spikelets open tluring iiowerinir. arranged in a lax open or closed 
panicle, dorsaily conipressed, each cont.tining a ^Inde perfect floret, 
without the rudiment r.f a st.-coiiii. ('Ami\- - unequal. Pales at length 
coriaceous, the lower one nor keeled. ^tiLiiuMi:. r>. Styles very short 
ur ab^fur: 2. [.rotrudr-d uX the ba.-.e of the florets })etween the 
