96 PLANTS OF BERMUDA. 



tufts or clusters ; stems stout, quite erect, five to seven feet high ; 

 leaves slender, about two feet long by three -eighths of an inch \vide, 

 margin rough witli minute serratures ; sheath ciliate ; panicle large, 

 a foot long, pyramidal, the lower branches whorled, very slender 

 and bearing the spikelets on thread-like branchlets ; palefe of the 

 fertile floret transversely wrinkled. Distribution, West Indies ; 

 habitat, fields, sometimes cultivated and planted in rows beside 

 paths, &c. October and November. 



4. P. virgatum (Cane grass). A stout perennial grass; stems 

 ascending to a height of four or five feet ; leaves flat, smooth, very 

 long, hairy at the base, soon becoming yellowish ; panicle about a 

 foot'in length, with alternate wavy branchlets on which the spike - 

 lets are shortly and closely stalked ; spikelets one- sixth of an inch 

 long, distinctly two -flowered, the lower enclosing three stamens, 

 with long, purple anthers, upper floret perfect ; glumes pointed, 

 stigmas feathery, purple. Distribution, United States ; habitat, 

 waysides and marshy ground, Warwick. 



5. r. eapilinre (Quaking grass). An annual grass, branching at 

 the base and forming tufts ; stems softly hairy, about a foot long ; 

 leaves four to six inches long, narrow, clothed with soft silky hairs, 

 those on the sheaths being more rigid ; panicle large, p^Tamidal, 

 very loose and airy in appearance, the small purplish spikelets are 

 remote on the long, slender, spreading branchlets. Distribution, 

 United States and Canada ; habitat, cultivated ground, very com- 

 mon, especially on poor soil. July to September. In autumn the 

 dry panicles become detached and are carried about by the wind. 



Two other species of Panicum are said to grow here, "siz., £. Jfolle 

 (Para grass), a pasture grass which has been naturalized in Jamaica, 

 and Panicum liniare. 



Other species of grasses met with occasionally are the Fox-tail 

 grass (Alopecurns pmtensej, the spike-like racemes of which appear 

 in the early summer months, and the Water Rice fZizania aquatica) ; 

 the latter I found once only, in channels among marshes, north of 

 Hamilton. There are also one or two undetermined species. 



J^at : Ord : 76. Ci/peracece. 



(.truss-like or rush-like plants with solid, frequently triangular, 

 stems and narrow leaves with entire sheaths ; flowers in spikes, one 

 floret in the axil of each glume ; florets destitute of paleae, some- 

 times surrounded ]>y a few bristles ; stamens usually three, anthers 

 fixed by their base ; stylos two or thro(% united below ; ovary one- 

 celled. 



1. CYPSRUS;. 



Umlel terminal, hrarrng rompressed ,<ipikeJcis, consisii;iff of two or morr 

 perfect Jloretii. 



1. C. NuttalUi. Stem triangular erect, four to six inches high : 

 leaves lanceolate, shorter than the stem, flat; umbel contracted, 

 rays few and short, involucral leaves three or four, two being longer 



