CLXI. GRAxMlNEiE. 



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. bxdlata. 

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

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

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

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

 long-setaceous or long-awned glume; 5;^. about 2f high, rough; Ivs. and bracts 

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

 Also found in the State of Georgia. 



FIG. 55.— 1. Carex ; a Eingle, fertile flower ; a, the glume ; b, the peri^nium, containinj; the ovary with 

 (c) the three Btii?maa. 2. Scirpus lucustris ; the inflorescence. 3. A sniffle (raagniticd) flow er, showing 

 the 6 hypogynous bristles of the perigyiiium, ovary with three stigmas, and the three stamens. 



Order CLXI. GRAMINE.E.— Grasses. 



Herbn perennial, with fibrous or bulbous rhizomos, or often annual or biennial. 



Slema (.cuh/ia) cylimlriml, fistuiar, closed at the nodes, covered with a coat of silex, often solid. 



Lva. narrow and undividrd, imrallei veined, aileriiate, with a sheath split down to the nodes, and a mem- 



lir.'jiious licula or sliiiiih; at tiic juncture of the blade and sheath. 

 InflorrscPtii-.r. arranrrcd in siukcs, nicenies or paiiidis. 



FIs. generiilly perlcct, in little spikciets composed ot'brarf.-* imbricated in 2rows. 

 G/uwje*.-— Outer bracts (calyx, Linn.) generally 2 and unecpial, sometimes 1 only. 

 Pa/e«.— Inner bracts (corolla, Linn.) 2, alternate, the lower (exterior) one simple, the upper (interior) 



often doubly cariiiate, bein^' composeil of 2 pieciss united by their edges. 

 Sca/M— huiermost bracts inrcldrij, Linti. rudimentary petals) 1—3, distinct or united, membranous, hy- 

 S^a. 1—6, conwnonly 3. .4 «//(/■ rv versatile. Ipogynous. 



Ova. »\m\\\v., wiih 2 styhi and 2 Ir.ithi.-ry sfifmat. Fruit a carj-opsis. 

 Seed with the cndiryo situated on the outside of farinaceous albumen, at the base, next the hilum. 



Genera 291, species about asoo, universally diiruse<l throughout the wo'ld, having no other limits than 

 those that bound vcKetiilion in general. Hut tlie species and their chanicters arc widel>; dilferent in dif- 

 ferent climes. In temiJenOo zones the trasses clothe a largj! portion of the earth's surface with a com- 

 pact, .soft, green, carpel-like turf; but in tropical regions this beautiful grassy turf disappears and tho 

 crasses become kirger, more isolated like other plants, fewer in the number of individuals, with broader 

 leaves and more showy flowers. 



Proprrtlc-i. -Tlii^ familv doul»tle^s contributes mr)rc to the sustenance of man and beast than ail others 

 comluiii-d. Its swr it riiiii inilntiiius propcrtirs rc-idr l«>th in tin- fariiiacfous albumcu ()l tlic seed and in 

 the hcrbat'f. .No iKiisoiiniis or cvi n .Ni|..piiii(iis ticrb h louiid anmtu; th<"m, with the .xitiflc cMcplion of 

 Lolium temulcniuni. 'I'tK; pi>is<iin>iit and nicdicniid iii:or or xjnirrrtl jyr is r)idy a p.ini-ili'' fuut'us. and 

 therefore forms no cxceplion !o lliiH remark Thr stems of many grasses cunfiin su;rar, as lhe////ii.ir and 

 rn^ar cnnr. .■>ilcx is also a freipicnt inirredient. To this onlerbeliuic the common I'lnitut, mai7.e. wheat, 

 rye. rice, barley, oats, dtc The most imiKirtant of the cultivatj-d irrat^r.i are I'hicum or TiniolUij gram, 

 Bcveral kinds of I'oa, Agrostis, AlopccuruH, Festuca, Aira, I'anicuiu, Cinna, Uri/.i. A:c. 



