350 TRiANDRiA DiGTNiA. ArisHda. 



ARISTIDA. Schreb. Gen. N. 125. 



Caylx hvo-valved, one-flowered. Corol one-valved, with three 

 awns at the top. 



J. A. setacea. Reiz. Ohs. iv. 22. Linn. Sp. PL ed. Willd. i. 460. 



Erect, smootli, from two to four feet high. Pflmc/e linear-oblong, 

 composed of fifteen to twenty sub-alternate, erectish ramifications. 



Teling. Sl«"p?/r-gadi. 



Grows in a dry, barren, binding soil. 



Hoot perennial. — Culms straight, generally simple, from two to 

 four feet high, and about as thick as a crow quill at the base, solid, 

 and of a very firm ligneous texture, round and smooth. — Leaves few, 

 narrow, margins invulule, nerveless, smooth. — Fanicie bowing with 

 the wh»d, linear, from six to twelve inches long, composed of sub- 

 sessile, remote, adpressed ramifications. — Calj/x, corol, &.c. as in 

 the family, except that the three awns are erect. 



Obs. Ciiltle do not eat it, yet it is very useful. The Teh'nga pa- 

 per-makers construct their frames of the culms ; it also serves to make 

 brooms and tooth-picks. It is employed in preference to other grass- 

 es for making the screens called Tatties, for this purpose it is spread 

 thin on bamboo frames, and lied down, these placed on the weather 

 side of the house, during the hot land winds and kept constantly wa- 

 tered during the heat of the day, renders the temperature of the air 

 in the house exceeding pleasant, compared to what it is without. 

 The Thermometer in the out side exposed to the wind, but not to 

 the sun, will then be at one hundred or one hundred and fifteen 

 degrees, or even more; and within, if the Tatties are properly dis- 

 posed and well watered, they will keep it down to from eighty-five 

 to ninety, with two or even three rows of Tatties, made very thin, 

 and all kept well watered, the Thermometer, when it blows hard, 

 may be brought down to eighty, but then it is absolutely chilling, 

 and disagreeably cold. The diflerence between the open air and this 

 refreshed air, is to the feeling inconceivably great. The Thermo- 



