GRAMINE5;. 453 



Z. a^ua'tica. Indian Rice. 



Stem, i inch in diameter, fislular, smooth, 6 feet high; leaves lance-linear, 

 2—3 feet long, an inch wide, smooth, serrulate ; panicle a foot or more long, 

 pyramidal, the lower branches divaricate and sterile, the upper spicate and 

 fertile ; spihhts on clavate pedicels ; awns long, hispid ; fruit slender, finch 

 long, blackish, deciduous, farinaceous. Inundated shores of ponds and 

 rivers. The fruit, which is very abundant, affords sustenance to wild geese, 

 ducks, and other water fowls. Aug. 



50. TRIPSA'CUM. 

 Moncecious; spikes digitate ; glumes 2, coriaceous; paleas 

 2, membranaceous. SUr'iU spikelels 2-flo\vered, outer flower 

 staminate, inner neuter. Fertile spikdels 3-flo\vered, the 2 

 lateral flowers abortive; outer glume enclosing the flowers in 

 a cavity of the rachis, with an aperture each side at base. 



T. dactvi.oi'dfs. Sesame Grass. 



Stem slightly compressed, smooth, solid with pith, brown at the nodes, 4 — 6 

 feet high; leaves near an inch broad, long, lance-linear, smooth beneath, 

 roughisli above ; .ipilces 5—8 inches long, usually 2—3 together, digitate, 

 terminal, staminate flowers above, pistillate below, without awns. River 

 banks and sea shores. Rare. July. 



fi. monostuchyon ; spike single. 



51. ZEA. 

 Monoecious. Staminate Jl.-;. in terminal, paniculate racemes; 

 spikelets 2-flowercd ; glumes 2, herbaceous, obtuse, subequal ; 

 palece membranaceous, awnless, obtuse. Pistillate Jls. lateral, 

 axillary, on a spadix enclosed in a spathe of numerous bracts ; 

 spikelets 2-flovvered, one flower abortive ; glumes 2, very 

 obtuse; pales awnless ; style 1, tiliform, very long, pendulous; 

 carvopsis compressed. 



Z. Mays. Maize. Indian Corn. 



Roof, fibrous, annual ; stem erect, 5 — 10 (in some varieties 15 — 20) feet high, 

 channeled on one side, leafy; leaves lance-linear, entire, 2 — 3 feet long. 

 The varieties of this noble plant are numerous, produced by climate and 

 culture. It is a native of the warm latitudes of America, but how widely it 

 has been cultivated on both continents, and how important it is to man, it ia 

 unnecessary heie testate, July. 



