CLXI. GRAMINE^. 



593 



brous, nerved, twice longer than the ovate-lanceolate glume ; st. about 2f high, 

 erect, scarcely scabrous; bracts and Ivs. long, not wide; light green. — Wet 

 places in meadows, common, and has been ranked under C. b-iillata. 

 138. C. MiRATA. Dew. (C. arista. Dew. not of R. Br.) 

 cf Spikes 2 or more, long-cylindric ; 9 spikes about 2, long-cylindric, pe- 

 dunculate, subdense-flowered, suberect ; perig. ovale, conic, long rostrate, cos- 

 tate, bifurcate, glabrous, subinflated at the base, about equaling the ovate, 

 long-setaceous or long-awned glume ; st. about 2f high, rough ; Ivs. and bracts 

 longer than the stem ; light green. — Shores of lake Ontario, N. Y. Sartwell. 

 Also found in the State of Georgia. 



FIG. 5.';.— 1. Carex ; a single, fertile flower ; a, the glume ; b, the perigymum, containing the ovary with 

 (c) the three stigmas. 2. Scirpus lacustris ; the inflorescence. 3. A single (magnified) flower, showms 

 the 6 hypogj'nous bristles of the perigynium, ovary with three stigmas, and the three stamens. 



Order CLXI. GEAMINE^.— Grasses. 



HfirJ.v perennial, with fibrous or bulbous rhizomas, or often annual or biennial. 

 Stems (culms) cylindrical, fistular, closed at the nodes, covered with a coat ot silex, often soUd. 

 Lvs. narrow and undivided, parallel-veined, alternate, with a sheath split down to the nodes, and a mem- 

 branous hgula or stipule at the juncture of the blade and sheath. 

 Inflorescence arranged in spikes, racemes or panicles. 



Fls. generally perfect, in little spikelets composed of bracts imbricated in 2 rows. 



GZjiwes.— Outer bracts (C(Z/2/a;, iirere.) generally 2 and unequal, sometimes 1 only. /• , • » 



PatecE.— Inner bracts (corolla, Linn.) 2, alternate, the lower (e.\terior) one simple, the upper (interior) 



often doubly cariiiate, being composed of 2 pieces united by Iheir edges. 

 ScaZ^s.— Innermost bracts (nectary, Linn, rudimentary petals) 1—3, distinct or united, membranous, hy- 

 Sta. 1—6, commonly 3. Anthers versatile. Ipogynous. 



OiJa. simple, with 2. sfi/te and 2 feathery s?;'p-was. Fr!«'« a caryopsis. 

 Seed with the embryo situated on the outside of farinaceous albiunen, at the base, next the nilum. 



Genera 291, species about 3800, univers.illy diffused throughout the world, having no other limits than 

 those that bound vegetation in general. But the species and their characters are widely ditterent in Olt- 

 ferent climes. In temperate zones the grasses clothe a large portion ol the earth's surface with a com- 

 pact, soft, green, carpet-like turf ; but in tropical regions this beautiful grassy turf disappears and the 

 grasses become larger, more isolated like other plants, fewer in the number of individuals,- with broader 

 leaves and more showy flowers. 



Properties —This family doubtless contributes more to the sustenance of man and beast than all others 

 combined. Its sweet and nutritious properties reside both in the farinaceous albumen ot the seed and m 

 the herbage. No poisonous or even suspicious herb is Ibund among them, with the single exception ot 

 Lolium temulentum. The poisonous and medicinal ergot or spurred rye is only a parasitic tnngus, and 

 therefore forms no exception to this remark. The stems of many grasses contain sugar, as the mazze and 

 sugarcane. Silex is also a ftequent ingredient. To (his order belong the common ^ra;n.s maize, wheat, 

 rye, rice, barley, oats, &c. The most important of the cultivated g^-asses are Phieum or 2 imothy grass, 

 several kinds of Poa, Agrostis, Alopecurus, Festuca, Aira, Panicum, Cinna, Briza, &c. 



