GBAMINEAB 355 



of the branches, and these spikelets disposed in loose panicles, or condensed into 

 racemes, or spikes ; spikelets 1- 2- or many-flowered, formed of distichously imbri- 

 cated chaffy bracts (stunted or modified sheaths of abortive leaves)*, of which the 

 outer, or lower ones, are called glumes, and the two that immediately inclose each 

 floret are termed paleae (the inner, or upper palm usually 2-ribbed, and supposed 

 to consist of 2 united paleae) ; proper perianth none ; stamens 1 to 6, or more 

 usually 3 ; anthers versatile ; ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled, usually with 2 minute 

 fleshy scales at base, somewhat analogous to the bristles or hairs (perigynium), in 

 the Cyperaceae ; styles or stigmas 2, plumose, or pencil-form, mostly with simple 

 hairs ; fruit a seed-like grain (called a caryopsis), free, or sometimes adherent to 

 the paleae, the pericarp thin, and for the most part closely adnate to the seed ; 

 embryo at the base, and on the outside, of copious farinaceous albumen. 



This vast Order is probably the most generally diffused, and the most important 

 to Man, of all the families of plants. The seeds, and herbage, furnish a principal 

 portion of the food of the human race, and of the more valuable domestic ani- 

 mals : Or, as it is expressed in the terse and classical Latinity of ENDLICHER > 

 "Gramina ubique terrarum sociatim vigent, laeta praebent pecudibus pascua et 

 humano generi annonam," 



DIVISION I. POA V CEAE. 



Spikelets 1- to many-flowered ; the florets all alike and perfect) or the uppermost 

 one, abortive or rudimentary ; sometimes monoicous. 



TRIBE 1. ORY'ZEAE. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, sometimes monoicoils; glumes often wanting, or obsolete; in- 

 ner palea 3-nerved; stamens 1 to 6; hypogynous scaUs 2. 



467. L-EERS'IA, Solander. 

 [Dedicated to John Daniel Leers ; a German Botanist.] 



Flowers perfect ; spikelets compressed, disposed in one-sided race- 

 mose panicles, articulated with the short pedicels. Glumes wanting. 

 Paleae chartaceous, compressed-carinate, awnless, bristly-ciliate on 

 the keels, the lower one much broader, and boat-shaped, inclosing 

 the flat grain. Stamens 1 to 6 usually 2 or 3. Scales membrane 

 aceous. Stigmas plumose, the hairs branching. Perennials: culms 

 and sheaths retrorsely scabrous. 



1. l<. oryzoides, Swartz. Panicle diffusely branched, often 

 partly sheathed; spikelets rather spreading, elliptic-oblong, whit- 

 ish; stamens 3. 

 RICE-LIKE LEEESIA. Cut-grass. Wild Rice. 



Oulm 3 to 5 feet high. leaves 6 to 12 inches long, ciliate on the margin ; sheaths 

 sulcate-striate, with retrorse prickles in the grooves. Paleae pectinate-ciliate on 

 the keel. 

 Hob. Swamps, and along sluggish rivulets : common. JFl. Aug. Fr. Sept. 



Obs. A very rough, white-panicled grass, common along slug- 

 gish streams ; rather a nuisance, than otherwise. 



* The glumes and paleae (or what is called Chaff) of the Grasses are the crowded 

 vestiges of the sheaths of leaves. The awns, often found on the paleae, are the 

 midribs, or slender remains of the laminae, or blades of the leaves ; and when 

 these awns are apparently inserted more or less distant from the apex of the 

 paleae (or dorsal, as it is termed), it is probably owing to the extension and per 

 sistency of the ligult of the sheath, which ligule thus becomes a portion of the 

 paleae. 



