90 PLANTS OF BERMUDA. 



This handsome grass rises to a height of five or six feet, the leaves 

 are somewhat broad aud two to three feet loug ; the male flowers 

 form a graceful terminal panicle, while the female are partly im- 

 merded in the substance of a thick, woody, axillary spike (the cob), 

 which is «;nclosed in tough, spathe-like bracts. 



The (luiuea Corn [Sorghum vulgare) is also cultivated, but more 

 rarely; the large, compact, oval panicle is divided into slender, 

 erect branchlets, which bear the long-awned spikelets. This spe- 

 cies, in common vnth. the closely-allied Chinese Sugar Cane [Sorghum 

 3(U-charatum), are chiefly grown as food for cattle. 



The Sugar Cane [Saccharum officinarum) is planted occasionally in 

 marshy ground : the stem, cut into short lengths, is much prized 

 by the juvenile native population. 



A little IJarley and Oats are cultivated, the latter being frequently 

 turned in to prepare the ground for potatoes, 



Ornamental grasses are few in number. A clump of Pampas- 

 grass [Gynerium ArgenteKm) is conspicuous on the lawn at Clarence 

 Hill; it is, however, but a dwarf compared with its congeners in 

 South America, where they rival the Bamboo in height. The Bam- 

 boo itself [Bambma arundinacea) is seen occasionally in quiet shel- 

 tered corners, raising its rod-like, jointed stems thirty or forty feet 

 high; the slender branches are solid and bear narrow lanceolate 

 leaves about six inches long. Its more humble relation, the Cane 

 [Arundo Donax), is planted in clusters near country cottages ; the 

 slender stem rises ten to fifteen feet, terminating in a large tawny 

 panicle, which, like a graceful plume, sways with every passing 

 breeze. 



Very different to these giants of tropical vegetation is the Quak- 

 ing-grass (Briza tnazimaj, which is grown in the flower-beds, and 

 when transferred to vases graces the interior of the cottages ; the 

 loose panicle rises about a foot in height, aud bears large, heart- 

 shaped spikelets, which hang tremulous from its slender branchlets. 

 The Canary grass (Fhalaris rait&rirnsifj is grown to furnish seed 

 for cage - birds ; and the Lemon grass (Andropogon schcenanthusj ^ 

 which has u very agreeable smell, is said to be used by the natives 

 in the treatment of fevers. 



A. riplkflets sunk into pits or hollowa on one side of a broad ivcodi/ 

 spike. 



1. STENOTAPHKVM. 



1. S> Amerxcanum [QTdih-gia.Si). A perennial smooth grass ; stem 

 several feet in length, stout, creeping, with short joints; leaves in 

 opposite ranks, two to four inches ionoj, blunt, flat, sheath much 

 compressed ; spike three inches long, quarter-inch broad, flat com- 

 pressed, bearing the distant spikelets in two rows on the convex 

 imder surface ; florets leathery, lanceolate, acute. Distribution, 

 West Indies and Southern United States ; liabitat, everywhere, one 

 uf the commoncbt and most valuable native grasses, very sweet aud 

 laucli aought after by cattle. 



