ENDOGENS. 125 



Sugar is also obtained from many grasses, as the Sugar- 

 cane, (Saccharum officinarum^) Sweet Sorghum, (Sorghum 

 saccJiaratum^) etc. 



Grasses contain a large quantity of silicious matter in 

 the epidermis of their stalks, which sometimes accumu- 

 lates in the joints, as the Tabasheer in the joints of 

 Bamboo, (Bambusa?) This latter is a tree-like grass, 

 sometimes growing fifty or sixty feet high. It is applied 

 to an almost endless variety of purposes. The Chinese 

 use it, in one way or other, for nearly every thing they 

 require. The sails of their ships, as well as their 

 masts and rigging, and articles of furniture, as mats, 

 screens, chairs, tables, bedsteads, and bedding, are all 

 made out of the Bamboo, which is cultivated with great 

 care. 



The stems of some grasses run under-ground, and are 

 useful in consolidating the sand of the sea-shore. This 

 property renders some grasses (as Triticum repeus) diffi- 

 cult to exterminate. 



4. SEDGES, (Cyperacece^ are grass-like herbs, with 

 angular stems and narrow, tapering leaves wrapping 

 found the stem, but without the slitting sheath. Their 

 flowers are borne on bracts, or scales, united in an im- 

 bricated manner so as to form a spike. In Lapland they 

 equal the grasses in number, but the proportion de- 

 creases toward the equator. Few plants of this family 

 are attractive to the eye, but many of them are useful. 

 The creeping stems of Carex arenaria bind the shifting 

 sands on the shores of Brittany and Holland into a wind- 

 defying mass. The Papyrus antiquorum of the Nile (the 



Bulrush of Scripture) belongs to this family. It for- 

 11* 



