ARUNDO ARENARIA. SEA-REED OR MARRAM.
ARUNDO arenaria ; panicula spicata, calyce unifloro corollam sequante pilis triplo longiore, foliis pun-
gentibus involutis.
ARUNDO arenaria. Linn. Sp. PI. p. 121. Huds. Angl. p. 54. Lightf. Scot. p. 107. (Ed. Fl.
Dan. t. 917. Hoffm. Germ. ed. 2. vol. 1. P . I. p. 62. JVilld. Sp. PI. vol. 1. p. 457.
jSmith Fl. B rit. p. 148. Engl. Bot. t. 520. Schrad. Fl. Germ. vol. 1. p. 221. t. 5 . f . 2.
Pursh Fl. Am. Sept. vol. \ .p . 87. Pers. Syn. PI. vol. 1. p. 102. A it. Hort. Kezo. ed. 2.
vol. 1. p. 174. Svensk Fl. t. 1S8. Wahl. Fl. 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 Beauv. 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. Raii Syn.
Class a n d Or d e r . TRIANDRIA DIGYNIA.
[N a tu r a l O r d e r . GRAMINEÆ, Juss., Br., Decand., Hook.~\
G e n . Cha u . Cal. bivalvis, uniflorus (in A . Phragmitide multiflorus). Cor. lana persistente cincta. Semen
liberum, corolla tectum.
Ge n . Ch a 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.
Ra d ix perennis, crassiuscula, longe repens, sublignosa,
nodosa, pallide fusca, hie illic fibrosa.
Culmi plures ex eadem radice, erecti, bi-tripedales, graciles,
rigidi, teretes, glabri, geniculati, saspe pur-
purascentes, foliosi, inferne foliorum vetustorum
vaginis fuscis vestiti.
Folia pedalia ad bipedalia, rigida, pungentia, insigniter
involuta, glauco-viridia, glabra, basi vaginantia,
vaginis obsolete striatis, glabris; ligulae eloh-
gatæ, membranaceæ, albæ.
P a n ic u la erecta, spicata.
Flores erecti, numerosi, arete dispositi, pallide glauco-
virides.
P e d ic e l l i breves, scabri.
Caly x uniflorus, corolla paulo longior ; valvis membra- j
naceis, lineari-lanceolatis, carinato-compressis, !
trinerviis, nervô medio distincto, prominente,
scabro, lateralibus fere obsoletis, apicibus obtusis.
CoROLLÆ Y alvæ lanceolatæ, membranaceæ, glabræ,
carinato-compressæ, quinquenerviæ, apice sub- i
ero’sæ, basi lanatæ, pilis corolla plusquam triplo
brevioribus.
St am in a tria : Antheræ purpureæ : Pollen flavum.
P istillum : Germen obovato-rotundatum : Stigmata
pulcherrime plumosa.
Squamula germinis magnitudine, membranacea, albida,
profùnde, bipartita.
Root perennial, thiefcish, much creeping, somewhat
Fig. 1. Single flower. Fig. 2. Corolla, stam. and pistil.
Squamule or nectary :—all more or less magnified.
woody, knotted, pale brown, here and 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 o f the former year’s leaves.
Leaves a foot or two feet in length, rigid, pungent, remarkably
involute, glaucous green, glabrous,
sheathing at 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.
Pe d ic e l s short, scabrous.
Caly x 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 th e Corolla lanceolate, membranaceous,
glabrous, carinato-compressed, five-nerved, somewhat
erose at the point, woolly at the base, with
the hairs thrice as short as the corolla.
Stam en s three: Anthers purple: Pollen yellow.
Pis t il : Germen obovato-rotundate: Stigmas beautifully
feathery.
Squamule as large as the germen, membranaceous,
white, deeply bipartite.
Fig. 3. 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 of 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
fact, 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
banks, or the seed of it sown along with Elymus arenarius. Its utility was acknowledged so early as Queen Elizabeth’s
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-
borough in Anglesea is almost entirely supported by manufacturing this plant into mats and ropes, for which the
long tough leaves, rolled at the margin in such a manner as to be almost exactly cylindrical, seem admirably adapted.
In Gaelic the plant is called Murran, and the banks of sand on which it grows are in Norfolk called Marram
banks.
„ T h l specimen here figured I gathered in company with my friend C. Parker, Jun. Esq. upon sands near the
village of Fairlie, on the Ayrshire coast, in full flower the latter end of July.