SECALE. 



This is merely introduced because it produces the Ergot, which is by 

 many botanists considered a morbid condition of the grain of Rye. 1 

 however agree with those who regard this substance as a fungus ; see 

 Spermoedia Claims. 



1296. Bromus mollis Linn. Mr. Pereira states upon the au- 

 thority of Mr. Loudon that the grains of this plant bring on 

 giddiness in the human species and quadrupeds, and are fatal to 

 poultry. 



1297. Bromus purgans Linn, in Canada, and 



1298. Bromus catharticus Vahl., a Peruvian plant, are said, the 

 one to be emetic, the latter purgative ; but, as Mr. Pereira remarks, 

 these statements require further proof, for Bromus secalinus, 

 which was asserted by some writers also to be poisonous, has been 

 found by Cordier to be innocuous. Medical Gazette xvii. p. 4. 



1299. Festuca quadridentata HBK. i. 154. t. 160. Pereira 

 in Med. Gaz. xvii. 5. fig. 6. — Sesleria quitensis Spreng syst. 

 i. 329. — Quito. 



Humboldt tells us that this plant is very poisonous, and was fatal 

 to animals ; it is called Pigouil by the natives of Quito. 



1300. Avena sativa Linn, yields Embden and other groats, 

 a common article of food among the sick ; but it is scarcely 

 medicinal. 



ANDROPOGON. 



Spikelets in pairs, the terminal ones in threes ; one complete 

 and awned, the other 1 or 2 withering, sterile, awnless (in most 

 cases) ; the former 2-flowered, the upper floret being neuter 

 with 1 palea, the lower <?, or rarely $ with 2 paleae. Glumes 

 2, awnless, becoming hard and leathery. Paleae smaller, hya- 

 line, the lowest in the <? with a very long awn. Stamens 3. 

 Ovary smooth. Styles 2, terminal; stigmas feathered with simple 

 toothletted hairs. Scales 2, truncate, usually smooth. Cary- 

 opsis smooth, loose, wrapped up in 2 paleae and glumes. Kunth. 



1301. A. Ivarancusa Phil, trans, lxxx. 284. t. 16. Poxb.fi. 

 ind. i. 276. — Iwarancussa As. Research, iv. 109. — Skirts of the 

 northern mountains of India. 



Root perennial, the principal parts thicker than a crow's quill, and 

 marked with circular scars, from which issue many small, firm aromatic 

 fibres. Culms erect, generally simple, from 3 to 6 feet high, smooth in 

 every part, not hollow, but filled with a light spongy substance. 

 Leaves near the root longer than the joints of the culm, their margins 

 hispid when the finger is drawn backwards over them, otherwise 

 smooth in every part. Panicle axillary, and terminal, or the whole 

 inflorescence may be reckoned a long linear, erect, or drooping, inter- 

 rupted panicle, composed of numerous (many of them proliferous,) 

 fascicles of slender, pedicelled, thin spikes of 5 joints ; each fascicle is 

 furnished with its own proper boat-shaped spathe, besides many chaffy 

 bracts within it anions the insertions of the pedicels ; and a proper 

 611 R R 2 



