A HAND-BOOK OF SOME COMMON SOUTH 



INDIAN GRASSES. UB rary 



NEW YORK 

 BOTANICAL 



CHAPTER I. ^ A ^" 



INTRODUCTION. 



Grasses occupy wide tracts of land and they are evenly distri- 

 buted in all parts of the world. They occur in every soil, in all 

 kinds of situations and under all climatic conditions. In certain 

 places grasses form a leading feature of the flora. As grasses do 

 not like shade, they are not usually abundant within the forests 

 either as regards the number of individuals, or of species. But in 

 open places they do very well and sometimes whole tracts become 

 grass-lands. Then a very great portion of the actual vegetation 

 would consist of grasses. 



On account of their almost universal distribution and their 

 great economic value grasses are of great importance to man. 

 And yet very few people appreciate the worth of grasses. 

 Although several families of plants supply the wants of man, the 

 grass family exceeds all the others in the amount and the value of 

 its products. The grasses growing in pasture land and the cereals 

 grown all over the world are of more value to man and his domestic 

 animals than all the other plants taken together. 



To the popular mind grasses are only herbaceous plants with 

 narrow leaves such as the hariali, ginger grass and the kolakattai 

 grass. But in the grass familv or Gramineas the cereals, sugar- 

 cane and bamboos are also included. 



Grasses are rather interesting in that they are usually successful 

 in occupying large tracts of land to the exclusion of other plants. 

 If we take into consideration the number of individuals of any 

 species of grass, they will be found to out-number those of any 

 species of any other family. Even as regards the number of 

 species this family ranks fifth, the first four places being occupied 

 respectively by Compositas, Leguminosse, Orchideae and Rubi- 

 aceas. 



As grasses form an exceedingly natural family it is very 

 difficult for beginners to readily distinguish them from one 

 another. 



The leaves and branches of grasses are very much alike and the 

 flowers are so small that they are liable to be passed by unnoticed. 

 ~ The recognition of even our common grasses is quite a task for a 

 CO botanist. 



S5 To understand the general structure of grasses and to become 

 ^. familiar with them it is necessary to study closely some common 

 cvj grasses. We shall begin our study by selecting as a type one of 

 the species of the genus Panicum. 



Panicum javanicum is an annual herb with stems radiating in all 

 directions from a centre. The plant is fixed to the soil bv a tuft of 



