GRAMINEiE. 231 



beauty of the green that covers the earth at the North as a splen- 

 did carpet. The difference between the grass fields of the North 

 and South, in this respect, is very great, and vastly in favor of 

 the beauty of the North. The beautiful meadows of Europe are 

 far more common in the middle and northerly part, than in the 

 south of it. In either of the continents, this is counteracted in 

 part by elevation, as the higher districts of more Southern climes 

 resemble the less elevated regions at the North. The rich ver- 

 dure of the grass fields, the green turf of New England, is un- 

 known in the West Indies, although their vegetation is more 

 luxuriant. The inhabitants talk, indeed, of the green of their 

 fields with all propriety ; but it bears no comparison with the 

 rich grassy carpet of the North. 



The beauty of the Western prairies requires only an allusion, 

 for us to connect it with the endless variety and multitude of the 

 grasses, as well as other plants. 



In our forests, these grasses form the beauty of the ground- 

 work, as they spring up in abundance on all the open spots, on 

 the sides of sunny hills, beside the running streams, and around 

 and over the marshes, and wherever the underwood has been by 

 any means removed. On the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and 

 through the forests watered by the great rivers of the North, 

 around Hudson's Bay and the Great Lakes, and to the very sum- 

 mits and snows of the Rocky Mountains, the enterprising ex- 

 plorers have found the grasses, spreading over the face of nature 

 their usefulness and beauty. About one fourteenth of all the 

 flowering plants are grasses ; so profusely has the beneficent 

 Author of nature provided for the wants and pleasure of man. 



ORDER 261. GRAMINE^. The Grass Tribe. 



Stamens and pistils commonly in the same flower, enclosed by 

 imbricated bracts ; exterior bracts or glumes commonly 2, and 

 unequal, alternate ; next interior bracts, or paleae, the corolla of 

 Linnaeus, 2, alternate, the down simple ; the inmost bracts or 

 scales, at the base of the simple ovary, 2, or 3, or none, distinct 

 or united ; stamens 1 -6, usually 3 ; styles 1 - 3, usually 2, with 



