402 Sir R. Schomburgk on some Grasses and Sedges 



native place to feed them with. The birds died, and the re- 

 mainder of the seeds were thrown within a fence where they 

 grew, and the eagerness of the cattle to eat this grass suggested 

 the idea of cultivating it. 



It is now cultivated in the West India islands and South Ame- 

 rica generally. I collected in the neighbourhood of Georgetown 

 a variety described as P. maximum /3. lave by Nees von Esen- 

 beck in Martius's Brazilian Plants (/. c. ii. 167). 



Panicum (Echinochloa) spectabile, N. ab E. in I. c. ii. 262. 



Oplismenus spectabilis, Kunth, /. c. i. 145. 



Panicum majus, &c, Browne, Hist. Jam. p. 133. no. 2. 



Scotch-grass ; Water-grass. 

 This species, which has been introduced from Angola, is most 

 extensively cultivated in Brazil under the name of Capim de An- 

 gola. Browne, in his f History of Jamaica/ observes, that it is 

 cultivated near the towns in Jamaica with great care (and sold 

 as green fodder), and found to be one of the most beneficial pro- 

 ductions of the island. An acre of good land, well-stocked with 

 this plant in a seasonable part near either Kingston or Spanish 

 Town, is computed by him to bring in above a hundred and 

 twenty pounds of their currency a year. It appears to have been 

 formerly cultivated in Demerara ; however, at present the guinea- 

 grass is preferred as a green fodder. I collected near Georgetown a 

 variety which Nees von Esenbeck has designated as P. spectabile, 

 var. vaginis glabris rarissimisve setulis conspersis, N. abE. in lit. 



Hymenachne amplexicaulis, N. ab E. in I. c. ii. 276. 



Panicum amplexicaule, Rudge, Plant. Guianse rariorum icones et descr. 



i. 21. t. 27. 

 PanicumMyurus, Lam. 111. i. 1. 172; Kunth, /. c. i. 86 ; Meyer, /. c. 50. 



Broad-leaf grass. 

 It grows in trenches and is used as fodder. My specimens 

 were from Mon Repos ; Meyer gives the small island Aruabisi in 

 the mouth of the Essequibo as a locality, and Rudge possessed it 

 among his Guiana plants ; but it does not appear to be very ex- 

 tensively distributed. 



Cenchrus echinatus, Linn. Spec. 1488; Kunth, /. c. i. 166; Humb. et 

 Kunth, Nov. Gen. i. 114; Meyer, I. c. 66. 



Bur-grass. 

 The hardened and bristly involucrum of this plant, so common 

 in the pastures, attaches itself very firmly to the clothes of per- 

 sons walking through the grass. The horses appear to be fond 

 of it, but it is considered injurious to their stomach. The West 

 Indies in general, Mexico, Cumana, the coast of Guiana, Brazil, 

 Arabia, the Philippines, Barbary, and the Southern States of 



