GRASS TRIBE 97 
on the continual use of intoxicating liquors ; and instances might be quoted, 
not alone from old writers, but from recent journals, in which cases of this 
kind are recorded as having occurred. Mr. Lowe suggested, in a paper read 
to the Botanic Society of Edinburgh, when referring to the effects attributed 
to Darnel, that the virulence of the plant may depend on the place of its 
growth, varying according to locality. Circumstances of soil or climate are 
well known to affect the degree of poison contained by a vegetable ; thus 
some umbelliferous plants, noxious when growing by their native streams, 
become wholesome by removal to the garden. Darnel reared in the botanic 
garden is stated by Mr. Lowe to have produced no effect, when taken in a 
dose of half an ounce. Much is yet to be learned of the properties of this 
grass, and it is not impossible that it may be seen that some admixture of 
a slight portion of ergot of rye, which is well known to cause most dangerous 
maladies, may have produced effects which have been regarded as resulting 
from Darnel. Similar errors have prevailed for centuries, uncontradicted by 
botanist or chemist, as in the case in which a disease called raphania was 
supposed to originate in the mingling with flour of the seeds of the wild 
radish, Rdphanus raphanistrum, which are now well known to be innocuous. 
In some places the Darnel is called Sturdy or Ryle. Its oldest name 
seems to be Dragge or Drawke, by which it is still commonly called in 
Norfolk and Suffolk ; and the author, on making some inquiries respecting this 
grass of Kentish farmers, found it generally called Drawke by them. There is 
good reason for believing that the plant translated “tares” in the Scripture 
parable of the Sower, is this grass; and in conformity with this view, the 
French translators of the New Testament render the original word by iwraie, 
from zvre, to drink. This word is believed to be the origin of the name of 
Rye-grass, given formerly to this species on account of its intoxicating seeds, 
but now used by agriculturists as the name of the well-known wholesome 
grasses of the genus. The Darnel is less frequent in Scotland than in 
England. 
40. (46) Harp-Grass (Leptirus). 
Sea Hard-grass (L. /iliformis).—Spike cylindrical, slender; glumes 
awnless. Annual. This singular little plant, though frequent on the Irish 
coast, is rare on those of England and Scotland. It grows on the muddy 
shores of Devon and Cornwall, near Folkestone in Kent, and on the salt 
marshes about Dymchurch, in the last-named county ; while on the muddy 
shores of the Avon, among the salt-water plants which grow at the foot of 
St. Vincent’s Rocks at Clifton, it occurs in such abundance that its numerous 
short, firm, spreading leaves form a good portion of the verdure of many a 
green patch there; and the author has found it even rising up among the 
flag-stones of a street, leading up the hill to Clifton, and at some little 
distance from the shore. The grass is of a pale sea-green colour, sometimes 
a little tinged with purple, four or five inches high, with its spike more 
frequently a little curved than quite erect. It is a more singular than 
attractive plant, for the small spikelets are completely imbedded in little 
cavities in the upper part of the grass stem, and require to be looked for ere 
they are seen, except on some bright sunshiny day, when the eye may be 
IV.—-la 
