116 CHAPTER XV. 



Job's Tears or Elephant Grass (Coix lacryma) is 

 a tall grass which grows well here, though it is not 

 common. This is one of the niost graceful of a 

 graceful family, and well worth growing by any one 

 who can spare a little space from sunflowers and 

 scarlet geraniums. 



Coix derives its English and also its French name, 

 " Larmes de la Madeleine," from the polished lavender- 

 coloured beads which it produces. In botanical 

 language, the pistillate spikelets are enveloped in an. 

 involucre which becomes stony when ripe. 



The huge tufts of the Pampas Grass (Gynerium) 

 give us some idea of a South American landscape. 

 The species is dioecious, that is to say, the staminate 

 and pistillate flowers are on separate plants. The 

 pistillate plant may be known by the larger size and 

 greater spread of the panicles. 



The Smaller Reed (Arundo Phragmites) is 

 common here, as in England. It is closely allied to 

 the Pampas Grass ; in fact Bentham would include 

 these species under the same genus. 



