Fointed, striated, and slightly furrowed on the upper side, sheathing at the base. Flower-stalks curved, shorter than the leaves, simple or branched, sometimes leafy. Sphatha of 2 valves, the outer one (fig. 1, a.) upright, green, and longer than the tube of the corolla; inner one (fig. 1, b.) rather shorter, of a lightish brown colour, membranous. Corolla of a purplish blue colour, ribbed, yellowish at the base, varying to white or yellow. Stamens (fig. 3.) yellow. Germen green. Style and Stigma (fig. 3, c. & d.) pale yellow. Capsule (fig. 5.) smooth and ash-coloured. Seeds (fig.6.) shining,

brownish.

This very pretty little plant is subject to much variation in its size, as well as in the colour of its blossom. Sir J. E. SMITH informs us, in his Tour on the Continent, v. ii. p. 283, that the little green hillocks around the famous fountain of Egeria, near Rome, are studded with endless varieties of the I'xia (Trichonéma) Bulbocodium, with purple, yellow, or small white flowers. There are several specimens of it preserved in the SHERARDIAN Herbarium, in the Oxford Garden, some of which are only 2 inches high, measuring from the base of the bulb; and there are others which measure as much as 9 inches. Specimens of the same Trichonéma, collected many years ago in Asia by Dr. W. SHERARD; and others, more recently collected in the same country, by Dr. J. SIETHORP, are preserved in Du Bors', and in the SIBTHORPIAN Herbariums, both in the Library of the Oxford Botanic Garden. There is also, in the SHERARDIAN Herbarium, a specimen, of what is there considered a variety of Trichonema Bulbocodium, with a much larger flower, but there is no notice from whence it was obtained; it is probably the same variety to that figured in CURTIS'S Botanical Magazine, t. 265, and which is there said to be a native of Spain and Italy. This is considered by Mr. KER (Annals of Botany, v. ii. p. 223) specifically distinct.

The plants from which the drawing for the accompanying plate was made, were kindly communicated to the Oxford Garden by the Rev. A. BLOXAM, in 1835.

"The greatest pleasure the mind is capable of in this life," says FELTHAM, " is in the CONTEMPLATION OF GOD AND NATURE, the sweetness of Philosophy, and the discourse of Reason." And it is justly observed by Mr. EDWIN LEEs, that “ Man seeks his truest happiness in directing his attention to the works of GOD. The objects of ambition," says this pleasing writer," a breath may destroy; but the pleasures of the Naturalist are ever pure and bright as the source from which they emanate, and incapable of decay. His are unalloyed pleasures, where no care intrudes, which no revolution can endanger, and no reverse of fortune destroy :-

، The storm that wrecks the winter sky,

No more disturbs his calm repose,
Than summer evening's latest sigh

That shuts the rose.'

The turmoil of the world may lose its power to please, and the aërial castles formed by ardent hope may vanish away; but the beauties of vegetation, and the varied face of Nature, will still impart a perennial charm, of which none can deprive us * ''

See "The Affinities of Plants with Man and Animals, their analogies and associations; A Lecture, delivered before the Worcestershire Natural History Society, Nov. 26, 1833, by EDWIN LEES, Member of the Entom. Soc. of London, &c. 8vo. pp. 122. London: published by W. EDWARDS. 1834.”

I have derived much pleasure and satisfaction from the perusal of this very delightful little work; it is, indeed, impossible to open a single page without meet.ing with something to amuse, and something to insti uct.

Spartina Stricta. Twin-spiked Cord grass V

C.Mathews Del S

SPARTI'NA*.

Linnean Class and Order. TRIA'NDRIA †, DIGY'NIA.

Natural Order. GRAMI'NEE, Juss. Gen. Pl. p. 28.—Sm. Gram. of Bot. p 68.; Engl. Fl. v. i. p. 71.-Lindl. Syn. p. 293.; Introd. to Nat. Syst. of Bot. p. 292.-Rich. by Macgilliv. p. 393.― Loud. Hort. Brit. p. 542.-GRAMINA, Linn.-GRAMINALES; sect. TRITICINE; type, SPARTINACEA; Burn. Outl. of Bot. v. i. pp. 359, 362, & 366.

GEN. CHAR. Spike compound. Spikelets 1-flowered, 1-sided, in 2 rows, pressed close to the rachis. Calyx (fig. 1.) singleflowered, of 2 opposite, unequal, compressed, spear-shaped, keeled, clasping glumes (valves), the outer one sometimes smallest, narrow and pointless; sometimes largest, with a rough, straight, terminal awn; inner cloven at the summit, with more or less of an intermediate tooth, or point. Corolla (fig. 2.) about the length and shape of the calyx, of 2 compressed, spear-shaped, rather unequal, bluntish, clasping, awnless paleæ (valves). Nectary none. ments (fig. 2, a.) 3, hair-like. Anthers (fig. 2, b.) upright, strapshaped, entire at the top, cloven at the base. Germen (see fig. 3.) elliptic-spear-shaped. Styles (see fig. 3.) combined at the base, separate at the top. Stigmas (fig. 2, c.) feathery, slender, various in length. Seed oblong, compressed, clothed with the unaltered corolla, but quite loose.

Fila

The compound spike; the unilateral (1-sided), 1-flowered spikelets, in 2 rows, pressed close to the rachis; the calyx of 2 opposite, spear-shaped, compressed, unequal, pointed glumes; the corolla of 2, compressed, rather unequal, spear-shaped palea; and the styles united half way up; will distinguish this from other genera in the same class and order.

The 1-flowered spikelets will distinguish it from Dactylis (see t. 108), a genus under which it was included by LINNAEUS, and most Botanists.

One species British.

SPARTI'NA STRICTA. Twin-spiked Cord-grass. Smooth Sea-grass. Sea Cock's-foot-grass.

SPEC. CHAR. Spikes 2 or 3, erect, with very smooth stalks. Outer glumes of the calyx smallest.

Annals of Bot. v. i. p. 297.-Sm. Engl. Fl. v. i. p. 135.-With. (7th ed.) v. ii. p. 176. Pl. 27.-Gray's Nat. Arr. v. ii. p. 144.-Lindl. Syn. p. 298.-Hook. Brit. Fl. p. 57.-Dactylis stricta, Engl. Bot. t. 380.-Knapp's Gram. Brit. t. 63.Ait. Hort. Kew. (1st ed.) v. i. p. 104.-Willd. Sp. Pl. v. i. p. 407.-Ait. Hort. Kew. (2nd ed.) v. i. p. 160.-Sm. Fl. Brit. v. i. p. 110.-With (5th ed.) v. ii. p. 197. Pl. 27.-Dactylis cynosuroides, Huds. Fl. Angl. (2nd ed.) p. 43.-With. (2nd ed.) v. i. p. 93. not of Linnæus.-Limnetis pungens, Pers. Syn. v. i. p. 72.-Host's Gram. Austriac. v. iv. p. 38. t. 66.-Spartum Essexianum, spica gemina clausa, Dill. in Ray's Syn. p. 393.

Fig. 1. Calyx.-Fig. 2. Corolla; a. Filament; b. an Anther; c. a Stigma.Fig. 3. Germen and Pistils.-Fig. 4. Top of a Sheath, showing the fringed stipula-All a little magnified.

*From Spartum, a kind of broom or hard-grass, used by the ancients for economical purposes. WITHERING. Or, from the Spanish Esparto, some of the species, with various other tough grasses, being used by the Spaniards for making ropes. BURNETT. + See Phalaris canariensis, f. 56, n. †.

LOCALITIES. In muddy salt-marshes, on the East and South-east coasts of England.-Essex; At Crixey Ferry: MERRETT. In marshes on the liver Wallfleet, near Fambridge Ferry in Dengey Hundred: Mr. BUDDLE.- Hants; Between Southampton and Millbrook: N. J. WINCH, Esq. On the banks of the Southampton river by high water mark, in great plenty: Sir J. BANKS. Near Southampton: 1836, Mr. T. W. WEAVER.-Kent; About the mouths of rivers, and plentiful in Sheppy Isle: Engl. Fl. Near the mouth of Faversham Creek J. SHERARD, Esq. and COL. VELLEY.-Suffolk; At Aldborough, abundantly, about the Quay, and along the river-side and salt ditches, also about the Light-houses, and more sparingly N. of the town in the mere: Rev. G. CRABEE. It covers acres, and forms the whole crop about Aldborough, and Orford: Mr. WOODWARD.-Sussex; Local in West Sussex; Rev. G. E. SMITH, in New Bot. Guide.

Perennial.-Flowers from July to September.

Root creeping, with strong fibres. Culms (stems) from 6 inches to a foot or more high, upright, round, smooth, jointed, simple, leafy. Leaves several, straight, spreading, smooth, striated, stiff, taper-pointed, of a dull green, their edges rolled in when dry. Sheaths striated, smooth, very long, investing each other far above their respective knots, and concealing the culm to within an inch or two of the top. Stipula (ligula) (see fig. 4.) short and jagged. Spikes 2, sometimes 3, as in the specimen now before me, 3 or 4 inches long, and rising just above the short uppermost leaf, upright, straight, close together. Common-stalk (rachis simple, angular, a little zigzag, with a linear hollow to receive each spikelet, but not jointed. Spikelets 1-flowered, imbricated, in 2 rows, lateral, spearshaped. Glumes unequal, more or less downy or silky, outer narrow, and pointed; inner much broader and longer; somewhat membranous, with a slightly hispid keel, cloven at the top, with a short intermediate point. Palea (valves of the corolla less downy than the glumes of the calyx, pointed, entire, and finely striated. Nectary none. Anthers projecting. Germen spear-shaped. Styles united at the bottom. Stigmas feathery, slender, prominent. Seed oblong, compressed.

The whole plant is hard, tough and rigid, and often of a dark reddish, or blackish hue, by which patches of it may frequently be distinguished at a considerable distance. Its rariety makes it an interesting plant to the Botanist; but to the Agriculturist it is of no estimation. It appears that LINNAEUS confounded this species with his Dactylis (Spartina) cynosuroides, a native of America, and a very. different grass from this, growing to a much greater size, and, in a cultivated state, attaining to the height of five feet, or more; and bearing a large panicle of numerous spikes, whose flowers are much more crowded than in Spartina stricta.

I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. T. W. WEAVER, gardener to the Rev. the Warden of Winchester College, for the specimen from which the drawing for the annexed plate was made; and also for plants of Salicórnia herbácea; Poa procumbens; Poa maritima; Chenopódium maritimum; Státice limónium, (t. 183); and Aster tripólium; all, I believe, collected by him in the vicinity of Southampton, about July last.