Nov., 1910.] Some Economic Monocotyls of Ohio. 215 



anthum odoratum gives a fine sweet scent to new hay, and the 

 large seeds of Milium effusum furnish a fine food for pheasants. 



Amniophila arenaria is used to bind the sand on the sea and 

 lake shores. In England this grass is used for mats and basket 

 work, thatching material, and its fiber for making paper, 

 mattings, and agricultural tie bands. The fiber is not used to 

 any extent in the United States. The fiber of Sporobolus crypt- 

 andrus is rather too short to be woven but is used to some 

 extent for tying. Mats and baskets are made from Cynosurus 

 cristatus by the peasantry of Ireland. This grass is just being 

 naturalized in Ohio. The species of Festuca are valuable meadow 

 grasses, and the same is true for Lolium perenne. The seeds of 

 Lolium temulentum, sometimes found in wheat, produces poison- 

 ous effects on the system, such as headache, drowsiness and 

 vertigo, if ground in the flour. Agropyron repens furnishes a 

 poor pasture grass but if cut when young gives a fairly good fod- 

 der. It is used to fasten sand on river banks. The juicy rhizomes 

 and runners are nourishing food for cattle and contain three per 

 cent of sugar, six to eight per cent triticum, a gumm}^ carbo- 

 hydrate, and are officially known as radix graminis. The extract 

 acts as a solvent upon collections of mucous of the intestinal 

 membranes, and in aftections of the intestinal canal. A syrup 

 and even an alcohol is made from it. 



The entire stems of Scirpus lacustris one of the Cyperaceae are 

 used for mats and mattings and to make baskets, bee hives and 

 horse collars. vShoes are made from the plant in England and it is 

 used in Den nark when thrashing buckwheat to prevent crushing 

 the grain. The fiber of Ei'iophorum polystachyon furnishes material 

 from which paper and clothing are made and Elcccharis palustris 

 is especially valued in Holland for making beautiful matting. 



Several species of the Araceae are also important. The eorms 

 of Arisaema triphyllum are used as a stimulant, diaphoretic, 

 expectorant and irritant, while Spathyema foetida is administered 

 in affections of the respiratory organs, in nervous disorders, 

 rheumatism and dropsical complaints. The dried roots of Acorus 

 calamus are frequently chewed for the relief of dyspepsia and as 

 a stiaiulant in feeble digestion. 



The different species of Lemnaceae are said to purify water. 

 They furnish food for water birds and fishes, being especially good 

 for gold fish. 



The Juneaceae include important fiber plants and also excel- 

 lent paper stock. The fiber of some species is said to make a 

 good substitute for human hair. The fiber of Juncus effusus is 

 employed in making chair bottoms and baskets, while the pith 

 makes a good substitute for candles. J. balticus is u.sed for 

 weaving mats and light baskets. 



