178 



THE TRUE GRASSES. 



tanum Guss.) grows upon mountains of Spain and Mo- 

 rocco, through Silicia, Dalmatia, Servia, Greece, Asia 

 Minor, Armenia, Kurdistan as far as Central Asia. It 



is perennial and has 

 an articulate rachis, 

 both of whic'h char- 

 acteristics are lost 

 in culture. How- 

 ever, rye stubble, if 

 it stands a long time 

 in the field, will 

 sprout again, a thing 

 that never happens 

 with wheat and bar- 

 ley because their 

 original forms are 

 annual. At present 

 it is mainly culti- 

 vated in northern 

 Europe (to 69 

 north latitude), and 

 also in North Amer- 

 ica. It is the chief 

 cereal of the Ger- 

 man and Slavonic 

 nations. Its varia- 

 tions are unimport- 

 ant. The fruit fur- 

 nishes the well- 

 known black flour 

 used in making bread. In the green state rye forms a 

 nourishing fodder. The straw is prized on account of 

 its length ; it is useful for making hats, and in the manu- 

 facture of paper. The bran is used for cattle-feed, for 

 poultices, etc., and the grain for the distillery.* Its 

 culture in Europe is not so old as that of the other cere- 

 als. It was unknown to the people of Western Europe 



* For the details on cereals see KOrnicke and Werner, " Handbuch 

 des Getreidebaus " (Bonn, 1885), upon which are based many of the 

 statements here given, 



FIG. 93. Secale cereale L. A, Spike (after Mull- 

 Guyot). Kl, Fruit from the front; K2, from the 

 side; K3, in cross-section. (After Nees, Gen. 

 Germ. 81.) 



