77 
Holland to the Straits of Gibraltar, and in an isolated area at 
the head of the Adriatic. Two other species of weil-knowln 
American origin have become established in Europe since the end 
of the eighteenth or the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
S. juncea in the Mediterranean and S. alterniflora in the inner¬ 
most corner of the Bay of Biscay and in Southampton W'atbr. 
Townsend’s grass differs from all of them, and at the same time 
it has not been recorded from anywhere outside its English area, 
excepting two French stations near Cherbourg, where it has made 
its appearance within the last two or three years. 
It is a vigorous, stout, stiff grass, standing usually about 
2~2\ feet high, but occasionally much dwarfed, or drawn out and 
then attaining a height of from 3-4 feet. It grows mainly in the 
soft ground of the mud flats which are so common on the Hamp¬ 
shire coast and the adjoining portions of the coasts of Dorset and 
Sussex and in the tidal reaches of their rivers. It anchors itself 
in the mud by long vertically descending roots, whilst another set 
of roots, short but abundantly divided and interlaced, spreads all 
round from the base of the stems and the nodes of stolons close 
to the surface of the mud. It grows in tufts* which often assume 
great dimensions and a remarkably circular shape. Such circular 
patches, or clumps, may measure anything between 3 and 15 feet 
in diameter and even more. The grass owes this peculiar growth 
to the production of numerous underground branches or stolons, 
which grow out from the buried stem bases radially, and measure 
from a few inches to several feet. Inequality in the density of 
the mud, admixture of sand, pebbles or larger stones and other 
conditions may favour development in one or the other direction, 
when' the circular shape of the clumps gives way to irregular 
shapes, or it may be that two or more clumps meet in the course 
of expansion and fuse, and finally many clumps may unite and 
form regular meadows with a dense matted growth. The leaf- 
blades are rigid, long and long-pointed, standing off at angles of 
60 to 70 degrees, and bright greert or slightly glaucous. Like 
all the Spartinas it has the spikelets closely arranged in stiff, 
one-sided spikes which spring from a common axis and are 
erect, so that they are almost or quite applied to each other. 
There are usually 4-7 of them, but starved specimens may have 
only two, and luxuriant specimens as many as eleven. The very 
pretty, feathery, white stigmas appear before the anthers, and 
persist a long time, apparently in a fresh' condition. The grass 
begins to flower in the latter part of July, and the flowering is 
most profuse in August and September. Some individuals, how¬ 
ever, lag much behind, and may be found in bloom as late as 
the end of December. As each spikelet contains only one flower, 
it also has only one grain, which remains tightly enclosed in its 
husks. The grain has a very thin shell and an unusually large, 
green embryo, which frequently grows out and pierces the shell, 
*See plat-ee I. and II. accompanying Mr. Sherring’s note on Spartina. 
Townsendii in Proc. Bournemouth Nat. Sc. See. iv., p. 49. 
