from the East Coast of Demerara. 397 



varieties are known among the labouring population. The grasses 

 appear sometimes, where the soil differs in greater dryness or 

 composition, under such different forms that the common people 

 bestow various names upon the same species, and in no instance 

 is this more the case than in Leptochloa virgata, of which I have 

 given merely the most common vernacular names. This peculiar 

 appearance repeats itself where the plant meets similar soil, dry- 

 ness or humidity, which chiefly affect the seeds, and give it a 

 white, red, or purplish colour. 



The geographical distribution of grasses is a very remarkable 

 point : some species seem to follow man ; and scarcely has he 

 cleared the ground from the virgin wood which he selected in the 

 far west of the United States, in the tropical forests of Guiana 

 and Brazil, in the plains of South Australia or other parts of the 

 world, for his settlement, when certain species of grasses show 

 themselves among his cultivation which he recognises as ac- 

 quaintances from the country he left behind. 



In the West Indies and South America, African species of 

 grass are cultivated for the sake of fodder, while the indigenous 

 species are entirely neglected. The planter follows the custom 

 of his ancestor as a prescribed rule, and changes, even where they 

 would prove for the better, are eschewed as a transgression upon 

 the good old times. Hence I am not astonished that so fine a 

 grass as the indigenous Paspalus virgatus is neglected, and the 

 preference is given to the cultivation of the guinea-grass (Pani- 

 cum maximum). 



The collection of grasses from Demerara consisted of the fol- 

 lowing : — 



Paspalus conjvgatus, Fliigge ; Nees ab Esenbeck in Martius Flora 



Brasiliensis, ii. 44 ; Meyer, Prim. Flora Essequiboensis, p. 49 ; 



Fliigge, Graminum Monographic, p. 102 ; Raddi, Agrostographia 



Brasiliensis, p. 23. 

 Paspalum conjugatum, Bergius in Nova Acta Helvetica, vii. 129; 



Swartz, Flora Indiae Occidentalis, i. 133 ; Kunth, Enumerat. 



Plant, i. 51. 



Sour-grass ; Broad-leaved Savannah-grass. 



It is one of the most abundant species of grasses in Mexico, 

 on the banks of the Orinoco and Essequibo in Peru, New Gra- 

 nada and the West Indies. It grows in moist shady places, and 

 often reaches a height of from two to three feet. In favourable 

 situations it is in blossom almost throughout the year. As a 

 fodder-grass it does not stand in high esteem ; the cattle refuse 

 it in its green state ; it is however useful as hay. According to 

 Browne, "the roots and leaves of this grass, pounded and applied 

 externally, are observed to cure sores and ulcers of all sorts with 



