GLUMALS. 29 GRASSES. 
Avena. Linneus. 
A panicle. Glumes 2- or more-flowered, as long as the florets. Outer 
: Palea with distinct lateral nervures, 2-pointed, with a dorsal, kneed 
and twisted awn. Ovary hairy at top. 
1. A. sativa Linneus.—(Tue Common Oat.) Fig. 55. 
Panicle spreading, equal-sided ; glumes generally 2-flowered, longer than 
the florets, the uppermost 9-nerved ; florets smooth, bifid, or 2-toothed 
at the point. 
| Habitat. Mesopotamia ? 
— Quality. The grain nutritious. 
_ | Uses, Gruel, prepared from the skinned grains or groats, easily digested ; employed as 
| an emollient and demulcent in cases of poisoning by acrid substances ; meal also 
as poultices, 
' 
Saccnarum. Linneeus. 
| A large branched panicle. Spikelets in pairs, buried in long silky hairs, 
} 2-flowered ; one sessile, the other stalked. 
Lower floret neuter with one palea; upper 
floret hermaphrodite with 2 paler. Glumes 
2, membranous. Pale minute, transpa- 
| rent, awnless. 
IL. 8. oficinarum Linneus.—(The Suear Cant.) 
Panicle very loose ; flowers triandrous ; glumes 
indistinctly one-nerved, with very long 
hairs at the back. 
_ Habitat. Tropical countries, 
Quality. Sweet ; demulcent ; emollient. 
Uses. Its sugar is universally employed where sweet 
substances are needed. An antidote to poisoning 
by metallic salts. 
; Anpropogon. Linneus. 
Either a spike or panicle. Spikelets in pairs, or, 
if terminal, in threes ; one perfect awned, 
the others withering, sterile, and awnless ; 
perfect spikelet 2-flowered, the lower floret 
neuter with one palea; the upper floret 
hermaphrodite with 2 palee. Glumes 2, 
+. hard. 
ae Ay — Linneus.—(LemMon GRASS.) 
: ig. 56. 
_ Perennial, erect ; panicle rather secund, linear, 
leafy ; the spikelets having a common foot- 
stalk furnished with a spathe; florets all 
_ awnless; male with but one valve. 
- Habitat, Bengal, Avabia. 
Quality. ves very fragrant; their taste acrid, 
_ aromatic, and bitter. Rhizome and flowers have 
Uses, pel oe Y ae gens 
: leaves stomachic and diaphoretic. Yie ere 
__ 4n aromatic stimulating essential = (Grass oil), employed externally in — me 
affections. sapere! aoe ne 
al 
2 Fig .56.—Portion of the inflorescence of Andropogon Scheenanthus ; a, a spikelet magnified. 
