KNAWEL. 



KNOT-GRASS. 



3. Greater knapweed (f. se.z6tosa) This is ' 

 also a very common species, growing in the j 

 borders and ridges of corn-fields, and by way- 

 sides. The root is somewhat woody; stem 

 about two feet high, erect, branched, angular, 

 furrowed, leafy, smooth to the touch. Leaves 

 dark green, slightly hairy on both sides, pinna- 

 tifid. The flowers, which blow in July and 

 August, are terminal, stalked, solitary, large, 

 and of a handsome crimson colour, rarely 

 white; their radiant florets are large, each 

 with five deep, long, and narrow segments. 

 Calyx-scales ovate, green, somewhat downy, 

 fringed with fine parallel teeth. The seeds are 

 crowned with many reddish bristles ; and after 

 they are blown away, the calyx becomes reflex, 

 and displays the silvery shining hue of its in- 

 side. (Eng. Flor. vol. iii. p. 463.) 



KNAWEL (Scleranthus, from <rxA ? of, hard, 

 and *v6&?, a flower; in allusion to the dry, juice- 

 less calyx). These are dry, rigid herbs, which 

 can only be considered as useless weeds. 



The genus is European. There are 3 spe- 

 cies, one of which, called S. annuus, is so abun- 

 dantly naturalized in sandy, arable fields, as to 

 appear native to some of the United States. 

 (Nuttall). 



1. The annual knawel, or German knot- 

 grass (S. annuus), which grows commonly in 

 dry, sandy soils and corn-fields, flowering in 

 July. The root is small and tapering. The 

 stems numerous, widely spreading, and part- 

 ly decumbent; round, leafy, a little downy, 

 branched, and many-flowered at the upper 

 part. Le aves linear, acute, pale green, combined 

 at the base by a membranous fringed border. 

 Flowers small, green, nearly sessile, partly 

 axillary, partly collected into dense forked 

 tufts. Calyx of the fruit spreading, with taper, 

 acute segments. The Swedes and Germans 

 introduce occasionally the steam arising from 

 a decoction of the knawel into their mouths, 

 with a view to cure the toothache. Its leaves 

 are astringent. Goats and sheep eat this plant, 

 but cows totally refuse it. 



2. Perennial knawel (S. perennis). This 

 species is less common ; it flowers from Au- 

 gust to October, while the annual knawel blows 

 in July. The root is woody, branched, with 

 many decumbent or prostrate stems, 3 or 4 

 inches long. The whole herb is of a glaucous, 

 glistening appearance, turning red with age, 

 especially the stems. The leaves are more 

 tapering, crowded, and curved, than in the 

 foregoing. Segments of the calyx more ob- 

 tuse, concave, and finally converging. In 

 several parts of Europe the roots of this spe- 

 cies are attacked by the insect called Coccus 

 polonirns (Linn. Syst. vol. i. p. 741), which yields 

 a fine crimson dye : it is said likewise to live 

 on S. annuus and on some Potentilla. A good 

 account of its economy is given in the Upsa 

 Transactions for 1742, t. i. p. 51. 



KNEE GRASS. A name sometimes given 

 ^o the rough panic grass. 



KNIGHT, THOMAS ANDREW, President 

 oi the Horticu'tural Society of London, F. R.S. 

 &c., a distinguished vegetable physiologist and 

 horticulturist, was born at Wormsley Grange, 

 in Herefordshire, August 12, 1759. "My fa- 

 iher," says Mr. Knight, in a la:e communica- 

 690 



tion to me, "was a man of much learning and 

 acquirements. Having great powers of mind, 

 and living in an extremely quiet and seques- 

 tered spot, he was supposed by his ignorant 

 neighbours, in their language, to know every 

 thing." He died at an advanced age, when 

 Mr. Knight was an infant, and as evidence of 

 the respect his knowledge obtained him, when- 

 ever in childhood his son sought for informa- 

 tion upon any unusual subject, he was told 

 that his father would have answered him, but 

 that nobody now could. Being born in the 

 midst of orchards, " I was early led," he con- 

 tinues, " to ask whence the varieties of fruit I 

 saw came, and how they were produced ; I 

 could obtain no satisfactory answer, and was 

 thence first induced to commence experiments, 

 in which, through a long life of scarcely inter- 

 rupted health, I have persevered, and proba- 

 bly shall persevere as long as I possess the 

 power." Mr. K. was distinguished for his skill 

 in producing hybrid plants, by impregnating 

 the blossoms. We owe to him a debt of grati- 

 tude for many fine fruits. 



He died May 11, 1838, in the 80th year of his 

 age. The death of Knight was lamented by all 

 men of science, for, as it was soon after well 

 remarked by the Duke of Sussex, when ad- 

 dressing the Fellows of the Royal Society, "It 

 would be difficult to find any other contempo- 

 rary author, in this or other countries, who had 

 made such important additions to the know- 

 ledge of horticulture and the economy of vege- 

 tation. (Selection from his Papers, p. 69.) To 

 this interesting work a memoir of its author 

 is prefixed. 



Mr. Knight was author of the following 

 works, besides numerous papers in the Philo- 

 sophical and Horticultural Transactions : 



1. A Treatise on the Culture of the Apple and Pear, 

 and on the Manufacture of Cyder and Perry. London. 

 1797. 12mo. The 3d edition" in 1808. 2. Some doubts 

 relative to the Efficacy of Mr. Forsyth's Plaister, in re- 

 novating trees. London. 1802. 4to. 3. Report of a 

 Committee of the Horticultural Society of London. 

 London. 1805. 4to. 4. Pomona Herefordiensis, or a 

 Descriptive Account of the old Cyder and Perry Fruits 

 of Herefordshire. London. 1809. 4to. 5. A Letter on 

 the Origin of Blight, and on raising Late Crops of Peas. 

 This is appended to Sir J. Banks's Essay on the Mil- 

 dew. London. 1806. 8vo. 2d Edition. (G. W. John- 

 son's Hist. Eng. Gard.) 



KNOLL (Sax. cnolle). A little round ele- 

 vation; the top of a hill or mountain. 



KNOT-GRASS. The common oat-like soft- 

 grass (Holcus avenaceus), from its bulbous roots 

 is often called by farmers knot-grass ; but in a 

 botanical sense the following are the true knot- 

 grasses. 



This grass is preyed upon in Europe by a 

 species of leaf-beetle (Chrysomela polygon^, and 

 likewise in the United States by an insect 

 scarcely to be distinguished from the Euro- 

 pean beetle. By these the knot-grass is com- 

 pletely stripped of its leaves two or three times 

 in the course of a summer. This little beetle, 

 says Harris, is about three-twentieths of an inch 

 long. Its head, wing-covers, and body beneath 

 are dark blue; its thorax and legs are dull 

 orange-red ; the upper side of its abdomen is 

 also orange-coloured ; and the antennae and 

 feet are blackish. The females have a very 

 odd appearance before they have laid their 

 eggs, their abdomen being enormously swelled 



