C /e -Jtu ca sU rna-UM
Li..
FESTUCA UNIGLUMIS. {Hortus Ketvensis.
L olxum bromo id e s, Hudson,
Withering, (sfc.
Single-husked Fescue.
Spec. Char. Straw erect j panicle broad, pointing one Way, but inclining upwards;
calyx with one glume.
T here is a particular character in this plant (however different it may essentially be) that reminds
one o f a marine variety of Festuca bromoides, and will often be passed by as such. The straw is
strong, stiff, and upright; florets close, compact, and pointing upwards, forming a spike: the calyx
consists of one valve, terminating in an arista of about one third of its length; at the base o f the
inner side of the floret will be found a minute scale, not essential in any manner as a fence, nor can
we dignify it with the appellation of a valve: the larger floret valve is terminated with an arista, occasionally
twice the length of the valve, but nothing is less to be depended on than the aristae of grasses;
the footstalks generally support a single spiket, but the larger plants are branched at the base, with
two or three spiculae on each; the upper florets are usually abortive.--------- The very appropriate
appellation of f uniglumis,’ applied to this Festuca in the Hortus Kewensis, is so apposite, that it
cannot fail to be universally made use of, in preference to that o f ‘ tolium bromoides,’ to which genus
it can have no affinity, but in the solitary circumstance of having one valve to the calyx, a character
alone too weak to justify an arrangement with Lolium. This single-glumed Fescue will be found
plentifully near the rocks, upon the warren at Tenby; in Pembrokeshire,* where it lends its numerous
fibrous roots as a feeble aid, in conjunction with Arundo, Triticum, Carex, and Statice, to attach the
drifts of minute sand, and curb the inundations o f that destructive body.----------We are by no means
certain that Linnaeus was acquainted with this Festuca.
A, the single valve o f the Calyx.
B, a Floret, the upper ones being detached.
C, the Scale at the base.
D, a Seed.
* Should a botanic visitor to this coast require F. uniglumis, perhaps he may be gratified by finding it and Cheiianthus
.sinuatus growing together upon the hill of sand at Fresh-water-east, near Pembroke. The naturalist and conchologist
will survey with pleasure that singular stratum of timber trees upon the shore between Sanders-foot and Llangham-marsb,
in which are embedded myriads of those beautiful multivalve shells, Pholas parvus and P. dactylus; the curious manner
in which this Ascidia increases its mansion, as it enlarges its size, is worthy some attention; it revolves round and round,
and by aid of the spines it is furnished with, abrades away the inner surface of the hole in which it resides; and in fact,
when confined, the animal has only to turn round and be comfortable.