198 DICTIONAEY OF POPULAR NAMES GRASSES 



the Cape of Good Hope ; its leaves are opposite and palmate ; 

 the flowers axillary, on short stalks, of a purple colour; the 

 fruit is a two-valved oblong capsule, about 3 inches in length, 

 furnished on all sides with strong-branched, very sharp hooks, 

 Ijy means of which it lays hold of the clothes of travellers and 

 the skins of animals, and is difficult to remove. When brows- 

 ino-, cattle often get these fruits into their mouths and roar with 

 agony at the pain they endure. 



Grasses. — This name includes all species of the Grass family, 

 represented by Wheat, Barley, Oats, Eye, Maize, Eice, and 

 Millet, and pasture, meadow, and cane grasses, each of which 

 is noticed under its respective name. About twenty herbs, 

 cliiefly natives of Britain, are improperly called grasses, such as 

 Arrow-grass, Penny-grass, Eib-grass, Scurvy and A^Tiitlow grass, 

 as also grass of Parnassus. Only a few of these are of economic 

 interest. 



Grass Cloth, a name given to the woven fibre of Bcekmeria 

 nivea, a perennial of the Nettle family (Urticacese), native of 

 China. It sends up numerous rod-like stems 4 to 6 feet high, 

 having heart-shaped leaves, silvery- white on the under surface. 

 The stems contain a quantity of fine fibre, which is now im- 

 ported in considerable quantity from China and India, and 

 woven into the fine linen -like cloth known as China Grass 

 Cloth. It is now extensively cultivated in Jamaica, as also in 

 the Southern United States ; and the British Government have 

 lately become interested in its cultivation in such of the colonies 

 as are favourable to its growth. There is, however, some diffi- 

 culty in separating the fibre from the bark and wood, which has 

 led the Government of India to offer a reward of £5000 for the 

 best mode of overcoming the above difficulty. The plant grows 

 freely in this country, but in severe winters the roots are liable 

 to be injured; it might, however, be profitably cultivated in 

 Cornwall and the western counties. The fibre in Assam called 

 Ehea is also the produce of this species. 



Puya Fibre {Boilimeria Puya) is a plant similar to the pre- 

 ceding in habit of growth, but has longer leaves. It is exten- 



