406 Sir R. Schomburgk on some Grasses and Sedges 



one of the best grasses, growing more luxuriantly than the 

 American crab-grass. Pursh is of a different opinion, and ob- 

 serving that it is known in Virginia under the name of Wire- 

 grass, he considers it a weed noxious to cultivation. Dogs are 

 frequently seen to eat it when sick*, from which circumstance it 

 is sometimes called Dog's-grass. Humboldt found it in Cumana 

 and in Quito ; Raddi near Rio de Janeiro ; in Sir George Staun- 

 ton's herbarium are specimens from Maranham, Bahia, Para ; 

 Sellow collected it at Monte Video, and Kunth gives the following 

 additional localities : East Indies, Japan, Egypt, Mauritius, Lu- 

 conia, Society Islands, Southern States of North America, West 

 Indies, Guiana, &c. 



Spartina fasciculata, Pal. de Beauv. Agrost. 25. t. 7. f. 6 ; Kunth, 

 /. c. i. 279 ; Lam. 111. Gen. i. 180; N. ab E. in Herb. Lindl. 

 I collected this plant near brackish water in the neighbour- 

 hood of Georgetown ; my specimens are from two to two and a 

 half feet in length. It is by no means abundant, and I am not 

 aware whether in agricultural respect it is of any use in Guiana 

 and the West Indies. Elliot observes (/. c. p. 94), that a species 

 of Spartina is greedily eaten by horses and cattle, and that it is 

 remarkable for a strong rancid and peculiar smell, affecting the 

 breath, the milk and butter, and even the flesh of the cattle that 

 feed upon it. It affords however good pasturage for out-door 

 stock, and becomes valuable as manure. Kunth gives South 

 America as locality. 



Dactyloctenium mucronatum, Willd. En. i. No. 1029 ; N. ab E. /. c. ii. 

 436. 



D. eegyptiacum, Humb. et Kunth, Nov. Gen. i. 170; Kunth, En. 

 PI. i. 261. 



Eleusina cruciata, Lam. 111. Gen. t. 48. f. 2. 



Chloris mucronata, Mich. Fl. Bor. Am. i. 59 ; Pursh, /. c. i. 88. 



Cynosurus tegyptiacus, Linn. Sp. PI. 106. 



Sloane, Catal. 33 ; Hist. Jam. i. 110. — Gramen dactylon america- 

 num cruciatum Barbadensibus nostratibus " Dutch-grass " dictum, 

 Pluck. Aim. 175. t. 189. f. 7. — Gramen cruciatum Zeylanicum 

 humi repens, Burm. Thes. Zeyl. 106. — Goddam ; Rumph. Amb. 

 vi. 10. t. 4. f. 1. The short-shanked cruciated Grass, Browne, 

 Hist. Jam. 



The Cruciated grass. 

 The spikes of this pretty grass are fingered, from two to five in 



number, mucronate, and where there are four, cruciated, from 



which it has received its vernacular name. The leaves are ciliated, 



the stem ascending, and in my specimens from five to six inches 



* Poa ciliaris {Eragrostis cil'taris, N. ab E.) is called Dog's-grass in Bar- 

 bados, and the canine race seem to give the preference to this species where 

 they have a choice. 



