TRIANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. ^9 



France and England, is confined to the United States* and 

 principally to the marshes of the sea-coast. 



60. NARDUS. L. (Mat-grass.) 



Calix l-flowerc(l, l-vaivcd. CoroZ/a l-valved, 

 included within tlie calix. Stigma 1. (Flowers 

 spiked, alternate, and sessile.) 



Species. 1. JV* stricta. (On open hills near the banks 

 of the Missouri.) This g-enus, with the exception of the 

 ..V. ciUariSy of India, is confined to Europe. 



61. MIEGIA. Persoon. Aruxdinaria. Jlichaux. 

 (Cane.) 



Flowers polygamous, paniculate. — Calix 2- 

 valved, nriany flowered, short and unequal. Co- 

 Tolla 2-valved, unequal, the larger valve acumi- 

 nate. Style very short, trifid, and plumose. Pe- 

 risporium (nectary) S-parted, lacinise lanceolate 

 acute, as long as the germ; present in both the fer- 

 tile ai\d infertile flowers. Seed naked, large, acu- 

 minated witli the persistent base of the style. 



Culm g-igantic, perennial. Flowers paniculate; spike- 

 lets distichous, 7 to 10-flowered. — Very nearly allied to 

 the genus JBambos, us particularly described by Jussieu 

 under the name of Aastus, from which it principally dif- 

 fers in having- 3 instead of 6 stamina, and a bifid in place 

 of a trifid style; their separation is thus merelyj artificial. 

 Ihe J\ast7is has also a 2 to 4-parted perisporium, and 

 spikelets with flosculi which are alternately abortive. 



Species. I. JM. macrof-penna. Culm 3 to 15 feet high. 

 2. gigantea? " Perhaps only a variety of tlie former. Culm 

 SO to 35 and sometimes 40 feet high. This species is sup- 

 posed to flower but once in 20 or 25 years: the ^i. macroe- 

 perma, flowers much oftener. — The Ji. gigantea grows ia 

 most abundance on the alluvions of the Mississippi, where 

 it presents the most impenetrable brakes. The external 

 varnished epidermis of the cane is found to be a siliceous 

 deposition. 



62. ORYZOPSIS. Michaiix. 



Calix l-flowered, 2-valved, valves loose, obo- 

 val about the length of the corolla, awnless. Co- 



