Grasswrack

Grasswrack (Zostera), a genus of plants of the natural order Naiades, one of the few genera of phanerogamous plants which grow amongst seaweeds at the bottom of the sea. The leaves are narrow and grass-like, and the flowers consist merely of stamens and pistils, without any perianth, inserted on the central nerve of one side of a flat thin linear spadix, with a leafy spathe. The pollen is confervoid.—The Common Grasswrack (Z. marina) is a perennial plant, which forms green meadows on the sandy bottom of shallow parts of almost all the European seas, and abounds in creeks and salt-water ditches. It is found in great plenty on the British shores. It becomes white by exposure to the air. The rush-like coverings of Italian liquor-flasks are made of it: it is much used for packing glass bottles; and it serves well for thatch. Cattle eat it as forage; it is burned to obtain soda, and has been employed in the manufacture of paper. It has been long used in Holland, Iceland, and elsewhere for stuffing pillows and mattresses; and this use has of late years very much extended, so that the plant has become an article of commerce, under the name of Alga marina, or more commonly, but incorrectly, Alva marina (Ger. See-gras).