from the East Coast of Demerara. 405 



Leptochloa virgata, Pal. de Beauv. Agrost. 71 ; Kunth, En. PI. i. 269. 



Cynosurus virgatus, Linn. 



Eleusina virgata, Pers. Syn. i. 87. 



Leptostachys virgata, Meyer, /. c. 74 ; Sloane, Hist. Jam. t. 70. f. 2; 



N. abE. in I.e. ii. 432. 

 Var. a. Purple-head grass ; Black-seed grass ; Seed-grass. 

 Var. fi. White -head ; White-seed grass. 



The numerous names under which this grass is known in 

 Demerara point out how frequently it differs in its general 

 appearance, which has led the common people to consider it a 

 different plant and to give it a separate name. The caryopsis or 

 seed is generally of a pale reddish colour, and in some instances, 

 as in the variety called Purple-head, the glumes are of a darker 

 colour. It is a perennial grass, and reaches in favourable soil to 

 a height of from three to four feet. It blossoms after the vernal 

 and autumnal rains, and its pretty fasciculated spikes are fre- 

 quently from five to six inches in length. It is esteemed a very 

 good fodder for all kinds of cattle, and if some attention were 

 paid to its cultivation, it might offer great advantages as a stable 

 fodder. 



The Demerara varieties are described by Nees von Esenbeck 

 as follows : — 



Leptochloa virgata (Nees ab Esenbeck in Mart. Fl. Bras. ii. 432). 

 a. communis, spiculis 5-6 floris distichis. From the neighbourhood 



of Georgetown, Cuming's Lodge, &c. 

 j3. spiculis 3-4 floris subhomomallis. From Mon Repos. 



Eleusina indica, Gaertner ; N. ab E. in /. c. ii. 439 ; Kunth, /. c. i. 272 ; 



Lam. 111. Gen. t. 48. f. 3 ; Meyer, /. c. 75 ; Trin. Icon. 6. t. 71 ; 



Michaux, Fl. Bor. Am. i. 64 ; Elliot, Sketch of the Botany of South 



Carolina and Georgia, i. 175. 

 Eleusina domingensis, Sieber, Fl. Martin. 

 Cynosurus indicus, Linn. 



Kanara Pullu, Rheede, Malab. xii. 131. t. 69. 

 Browne, Hist. Jam. 137. No. 4 ; Sloane, Hist. Jam. i. 111. 



Man-grass*. 

 Excepting Europe, we have in this species another instance of 

 almost a universal distribution ; it has been found growing at 

 least over three-quarters of the globe. It is an annual, and 

 grows in moist shady soils to a height of from two to three feet. 

 Although it is none of the best fodder-grasses, cows eat it very 

 readily, and it makes very good hay. For this purpose it is 

 almost better calculated than any other tropical grass. Elliot 

 calls it Crowfoot-grass, and observes that it is found in rich cul- 

 tivated grounds very abundantly, and is considered in Carolina 



* In Jamaica and Barbados it is called Dutch-grass. 



