ELY 
487 
ELY 
jnent, lias a (lately lantern, feen at a vaft diftance; but it 
feems to totter with every blaft of wind. The choir was 
removed to the eaft end of the church, and a general re¬ 
pair took place in 1792, when a very handfome window 
of painted glafs was put up at the eaft end, over the altar. 
The city is not populous nor beautiful, but has great 
plenty of provifions ; the number of inhabitants is about 
2500. It has one broad handfome well-paved ftreet; and 
it is the only city in England fubordinate to the biftiop in 
its civil government, and unreprefented in parliam'ent. 
The ifle of Ely, from its fenny fituation, has frequently 
held out a longtime againft foreign and domeftic foes; 
and particularly was the laft place in the kingdom which 
fubmitted to William the Conqueror. Here is a free- 
fchool and two charity-fchools. The aflizes are held 
here in March or April, and a t Wifbeach in October. 
The market is on Saturday. Fairs, Afcenfion-day and 
Qftober 29. The diocefe contains all Cambr.idgefltire, 
and the ifle of Ely, excepting Ifelham, which belongs to 
the fee of Rochefter, and fifteen other parifhes that are 
in the diocefe of Norwich ; but it has a pari(h in Norfolk, 
viz. Entneth. The number or parifhes in this diocefe are 
741, whereof feventy-five are impropriate. This fee hath 
given two faints and two cardinals to the church of Rome; 
and to the Englifh nation nine lord chancellors, feven lord 
treafurers, one lord privy-feal, one chancellor of the ex¬ 
chequer, one chancellor to the univerfity of Oxford, two 
matters of the rolls, and three almoners. To the cathe¬ 
dral belong a bifhop, a dean, an archdeacon, eight pre¬ 
bendaries, with vicars, lay-clerks, chorifters, a fchool- 
mafter, ulher, and twenty-eight king’s fcholars. Ely is 
feventeen miles north of Cambridge, and lixty-nine north 
of London. 
ELYCH'NIOUS, adj. Having no match, v.oid of light. 
Cole. Not ufed. 
ELYCHRY'S-UM,/. in botany. See St^helina. 
ELYMA'JS, a country of Perfia, between the Perfian 
gulf and Media. The capital of the country was called 
Elymais, and was famous for a rich temple of Diana, 
which Antiochus Epipbanes attempted to plunder. The 
Elymeans aftifted Antiochus the Great in his wars againft 
the Romans. None of their kings are named in hiltory. 
Strabo. 
EL'YMI, a nation defcended from the Trojans, in al¬ 
liance with the people of Carthagei Paufanias. 
EL'YMAS, [Arab, a magician.] A man’s name. 
EL'YMUS,y'. [from Gr. to involve, the fpike in 
fome fpecies being involved in the involucre.] In botany, 
a genus of the clafs triandria, order digynia, natural or¬ 
der gramina, graminese, or grades. The generic cha- 
radfers are—Calyx : receptacle, common, lengthened in¬ 
to a fpike ; glume four-leaved, two-ranked, two fubulate 
leaflets being placed under each fpikelet. Corolla: two- 
valved ; valve exterior, larger, acuminate, awned, inte¬ 
rior flat; neftary two-leaved ; leaflets'oblong, (harp, ci- 
liate. Stamina : filaments three, hair-form, very fliort; 
antherae oblong, two-cleft at the bafe. Piftillum: germ 
top-fhaped, ftyles two, divaricated, hairy, infletfed ; ftig- 
mas fimple. Pericarpium : none ; corolla involving the 
feed. Seed: Angle, linear, convex on one fide, covered. 
—EJfential Character. Calyx, lateral, two-valved, aggre¬ 
gate, many-flowered. 
Species. 1. Elymus arenarius, or fea lime-grafs : fpike 
upright, clofe; calyxes tomentofe, longer than the flo¬ 
ret. Leaves reedy, glaucous or whitifh, involute and 
mucronate, channelled and rigid ; fteriis two or thtee feet 
high and more, (Lengthened by three or four joints ; 
fpike tomentofe, linear, eight or nine inches long, as large 
as a full-fized ear of wheat, but lefs compact; fpikelets 
two, ftraight, two-flowered, awnlefs. Like aruttdoarmaria, 
or fea-reed-grafs, it prevents the ■ fea-fand from blowing 
about by means of its matted roots. Dr. Withering con¬ 
jectures that it may poflibly admit of being made into 
ropes, as ftipa tenaciflima is in Spain. It is perennial, fre¬ 
quent on the fea-coaft in many parts of Europe, and flow¬ 
ers from June to Auguft. 
2. Elymus Sibiricus, or Siberian lime-grafs : fpike pen¬ 
dulous, clofe ; fpikelets in pairs, longer than the calyx. 
Stems tall, round, and fmooth ; leaves moderately broad, 
and commonly diftinguiflied by a kind of glaucous pow¬ 
dery complexion on the under fides. Perennial; native 
of Siberia, flowering in June and July. 
3. Elymus Philadelphicus, or Philadelphia lime-grafs: 
fpike pendulous, patulous ; fpikelets fix-flowered, the 
lower ones ternate. This, in its habit and whole ftn\c- 
ture, is extremely fimilar to the canadevfis, but the fpikes 
in this are nodding or defeending: the fpikelets in this 
are alfo fix-flowered ; in the other fonr-fiowered : in this 
alfo the awns are lefs ftraight, and a little flexuofe, even 
while flowering; whereas in the other they are ftraight : 
the calyx is as fhort again as the fpikelet. Native of 
Philadelphia; perennial. 
4. Elymus Canadenfis, or Canadian lime-grafs: fpike 
nodding, patulous; lower fpikelets ternate; upper bi- 
nate. This agrees in moft circumftances with the fetond * 
fpecies; it differs, however, in thefe : 1. The fpikelets 
are villofe, not naked. 2. The involucres end in an awn 
longer than the (pikelet itfelf; ^vhereas, in the othef, 
the awn is much (horter than the fpikelet. 3. The lower 
fpikelets are three together; but, in elymus Sibiricus,. 
they are no more than two. 4. The (pikelets, when in 
flower, (land wide from the fcape ; whereas, in the other, 
they approximate to it. At the bafe of each floret, on 
the infide of the (pikelets, is a dot or fpot of a rufous- 
brown colour. The leaves of this are bluifli, efpecially 
underneath, which is not the cafe in elymus Sibiricus. 
The awns alfo of the corolla, when the feed is ripening, 
from fpreading become reflex, which in the other ipe- 
cies they do not. Native of Canada and Virginia. Intro¬ 
duced before 1699, by the Rev. John Bannifter. It flowers 
in July and Auguft, and is perennial. 
5. Elymus caninus, bearded or dog’s lime-grafs, or 
wheat-grafs: fpike nodding, clofe; fpikelets ftraight,. 
without any involucre; the lowed double. Leaves bare 
of hairs underneath. It differs from triticum repens, in 
the root not being creeping; the fpikelets longer,^nar¬ 
rower, and rounder, furnifhed with long awns; whereas, 
in triticum repens, they are very fhort, if any. Linnaeus 
removed this from the genus triticum, wherein he had 
firft placed it, on account of the lower (pikelets being in 
pairs. Schreber never could difeern this. Krocker, how¬ 
ever, affirms that it really is fo in the Silefian plants. 
Perennial; growing in woods and hedges; as between 
Greenwich and Woolwich, about Croydon,.Ripton wood, 
Huntingdonfhire, Stokenchurch woods, Oxfordlhire, &c„ 
in the north frequent. It flowers in June .and July. 
6. Elymus tener, or pliant elymus: (pike pendulous; 
florets double. Culm two feet high, fmooth and even, 
with red joints. Native of Siberia. 
7. Elymus Virginicus, or Virginian lime-grafs: fpike 
ere 61 ; fpikelets three-flowered ; involucre (Leaked. In 
this fpecies the fpike exceeds that of an ear of common 
barley, and there are two feHi 1 e involucres affixed to each 
denticulated axis or bafe: each of thefe involucres con- 
fifts of two rays, which are longer than the flowers, and 
thicker, and are terminated by a long awn. Perennial;, 
native of Virginia; introduced in 1781 by Mr. William 
Curtis. 
8. Elymus Europseus, or wood lime-grafs, or barley- 
grafs : lpike upright; fpikelets two. flowered,, equal to 
the 1 involucre. Culm upright, (lout, two feet high and 
more, having four or five Joints-. The leaf at each of 
thefe is about a fpan in length, and a quarter of an inch 
or more in breadth ; fmooth to appearance, but roughUh 
to the touch, efpecially round the edges. It very much 
refembles elymus Virginicus ; but ihe leave.-, of- the in- 
1 volucre are not (cored, as they are in that. The florets,, 
together with their awns, are longer than the involucre; 
they are two in number, whereas in that they are three. 
In ftrudture it is an elymus; inhabit it approaches ra¬ 
ther more to the hordeum: in truth, it feems the con- 
nedting link between both. Native of Germany, Swif. 
j ierlandj 
