ARUNDO ARENARIA. SEA-REED OR MARRAM.
ARUNDO arenaria; panicula spicata,calyceuniflorocorollam sequante pilis triplo longiore, foliis pun-
gentibus involutis.
ARUNDO arenaria. Linn. Sp. P l. p. 1 2 1 . Huds. Angl. p. 54. Light/. Scot. p. 107. (Ed Fl
Dan. t. 9 17. Hoffm. Germ. ed. 2. vol. 1. P . t p. 62. Willd. Sp. Pl. vol. 1. p. 457.
Smith Fl. Brit. p. 148. Engl. Bot. t. 520. Schrad. Fl. Germ. vol. 1. p. 2 2 1 . t. £>./. 2.
Pursh Fl. Am. Sept. vol. 1. p. 87. Pers. Syn. Pl. vol. 1. p. 102. Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 2.
vol. L p . 174. Svensk Fl. t. 138. Wahl. Pl. Lapp. p. 30. Hook. Fl. Scot. P . I. p. 27.
CALAMAGROSTIS arenaria. With. Bot. Arr. ed. 4. vol. 2. p. 123.. Decand. Fl. Fr. ed. 3 . vol 3
p . 24. Fl. Gall. Syn. p. 124.
AMMOPHILA arundinacea. Host Gram. Austr. vol. 4. t. 41.
PSAMMA arenaria. P . de Beam. Agrostogr.p. 143. Roem. et Schultz Syst. Veg. vol. 2. p. 845.
GRAMEN sparteum spicatum foliis mucronatis longioribus, vel spica secalina. English Sea Mat-weed
or Marram. Rail Syn. .
Class an d Ord e r . TRIANDRIA DIGYNIA.
[N atural O rd er. GRAMINEjE, Juts., Br., Decand., Hook.']
G en . Ciia r . Cal. bivalvis, uniflorus (in A. Phragmitide multiflorus). Cor. lana persistente cincta. Semen
liberum, Corolla tectum.
Ge n . Cha r. Cal. two-valved, single-flowered (in, A. Phragmites many-flowered). Cor. surrounded at the base
with persistent hairs. Seed free, covered with the corolla.
Radix perennis, crassiuscula, longe repens, sublignosa,
nodosa, pallide fusca, hie illic fibrosa.
Culmt plures ex eadem fadice, erecti, bi-tripedales, graciles,
rigidi, teretes, glabri, geniculati, sæpe pur-
purascentes, foliosi, inferne foliorum vetustorum
vaginis fuscis vestiti.
Folia pedalia ad bipedalia, rigida, püngentia, insigniter
inyoluta, glauco-viridia, glabra, basi vaginantia,
vaginis obsolete striatis, glabris; ligules elon-
gatæ, membranaceæ, albæ.
P anicula erecta, spicata.
Flores erecti, numerosi, arete dispositi, pallide glauco-
virides.
P edice l l i breves, scabri.
Calyx uniflorus, corolla paulo longior ; valvis membra-
naceis, lineari-lanceolatis, carinato-compressis,
trinerviis, nervo medio distincto, prominente,
scabro, lateralibus fere obsoletis, apicibus obtusis.
Corollæ V alvæ lanceolatæ, membranaceæ, glabræ,
carinato-compressæ, quinquenerviæ, apice sub-
erosæ, basi lanatæ, pilis corolla plusquam triplo
brevioribus.
Stamina tria : Antheræ purpureæ : Pollen flavum.
Pistillum-: Germen obovato-rotundatum : Stigmata
pulcherrime plumosa.
Squamula germinis magnitudine, membranacea, albida,
profunde bipartita.
Fig. ]. Single flower. Fig. 2. Corolla, stam. and pis
Squamule or nectary :—all more or less magnified.
Root perennial, thickish, much creeping, somewhat
woody, knotted, pale brown, hereand there fibrous.
Culms many from the same root, erect, two to three feet
high, slender, rigid, rounded, glabrous, genicu-
lated, often purplish, leafy, below clothed with
the brown sheaths of the former year’s leaves.
Leaves a foot or two feet in length, rigid, pungent, remarkably
involute, glaucous green, glabrous,
sheathing a t the base, with the sheaths obsoletely.
striated, glabrous; ligules elongated, membranaceous,
white.
P a n ic l e erect, spiked.
Flowers erect, numerous, closely arranged, pale glaucous
green.
P ed icels short, scabrous.
Calyx single-flowered, a little longer than the corolla;
the valves membranaceous, linear-lanceolate, ca-
rinato-compressed, three-nerved, with the middle
nerve distinct, prominent, scabrous, the lateral
ones nearly obsolete, the extremities obtuse.
Valves of t h e Corolla lanceolate, membranaceous,
glabrous, carinato-compressed, five-nerved, somewhat
erose a t the point, woolly at the base, with
. the hairs thrice as short as the corolla.
Stamens three: Anthers purple: Pollen yellow.
P is t il : Germen obovato-rotundale: Stigmas beautifully
feathery.
Squamule as large as the germen, membranaceous,
white, deeply bipartite.
il. Fig. S. Pistil separated from the flower. Fig. 4.
The Sea Reed is found plentifully on the sandy sea shores, not only of England, Ireland and Scotland, but extending
from the coast o f Barbary, in the north of Africa, all along the continent of Europe. It is met with in
Iceland, and on the west coast of Greenland between lat. 70° and 71°. In America it is found, according to Pursh
reaching from Canada to New England : every where displaying the wisdom of the Creator in adapting certain
vegetables for useful and important ends. This is one among the few gramineous and cyperaceous plants, whose
long creeping roots, binding as it were the sands together, prevent their being removed by the wind, and thus, form
a barrier to the encroachments of the sea. The industrious Hollanders have profited by their knowledge of this
tact, and by planting it on the loose soil of their coast, have been a means of preserving much fertile land, and
saving their very country from inundations.
In England at a later period, I apprehend, it has been employed, especially in Norfolk, and planted on the sand
ba"k.s’ °[.the see<j °f « sown along-with Elymus arenarius. Its utility was acknowledged so early as Queen Elizabeths
time, and Acts of Parliament passed which prevented its extirpation.
Nor are its services confined to the purposes just mentioned. We learn from Withering, that the town of New-
w ! * " \A,1SleseV s .almost entirely supported by manufacturing this plant into mats and ropes, for which the
ong tough leaves, rolled at the margin in such a manner as to be almost exactly cylindrical,: n admirably ...................
adapted,
fn Gaelic the plant is called Mumm, and the bants of sand c
banks.
i Norfolk called Marram
sP^i!n.®n ,lere figured I gathered in company with my friend C. Parker, Jun. Esq. upon sands near th<
village ol I'airlie, on the Ayrshire coast, in full flower the latter end of July.