594 ORDER CXLIT. — GRAMINACE^. 



Genus XL.— MANISU'RUS. L. 

 (From manica, a glove, in allusion to its 6pathe.) 



Spikelets in pairs, 1-flowered ; inferior perfect, superior stam- 

 inate. Perfect spikelet with 2 glumes; inferior glume saccate, 

 coriaceous ; superior smaller, membranaceous. Palece 2, much 

 smaller than the glumes. Stamens 3. Styles 2. 



1. M. graxula'ris, (Swartz.) Cw/m branching. Leaves fiat -, sheaths 

 hirsute. Spikes solitary, articulated, clothed at the base by a spathe 

 form leaf; spikeleta unilateral. — Probably introduced. About Charles- 

 ton. 2—3 feet. 



Genus XLL— SAC'CHARUM. {Sugar-cane.) 

 (From saccltarum^ sugar.) 



A gigantic grass, perennial, with a geniculated and fibrouy 

 root, growing from 6 — 12 feet high; many stems from the 

 same root; articulated with 40 — 60 nodes. Internodes solid, 

 filled with a juicy pith-like mass of great sweetness. Leaves 

 sheathing at the base, 3 — 4 feet long. Seldom flowers in this- 

 country. 



1. S. officina'rum is the common sugar-cane, of which there are nu- 

 merous varieties. 



The Sugar-cane was not known to the ancient Europeans. Tlie Chinese and East 

 Indims possessed tlie sugar-cane early, and through the Arabs it was introduced into 

 Europe in the fifteenth century. It was raised in. Spain and Portugal, and in the 

 islands of the Mediterranean and Atlantic. In 1.506 it was carried to St. Domingo, 

 since which time it has spread throughout the tropical world. 



Genus XLIL— ERIAXTHUS. Rich. 



(From erion, wool, and anthos, flower; from a tuft of hair around the base of each 

 spikelet.) 



Glumes 2, nenrly equal, villous at the base. Paleai 2, un- 

 equal ; the inner one bearing a long awn near its summit. 

 Stamens 2. Styles 2. 



1. E. alopecuroi'des, (Ell.) {Erianthus saccharoides, Mich.) Stem 

 erect, a little scabrous, villous toward the summit. Leaves long, stri- 

 ate, hairy on the under surface ; sheath villous at the throat. Flowers 

 in a cruwnh'd villous pnni^-le ; involucre hair-like. Glume lanceolate. 

 P«/ece piirpii.sh, unequiil ; the interior smallest, awned. — If. Sept. — 

 Oct. Wet grounds. 6 — 10 feet. 



2. E. brevibar'bis, (Mich.) Stem erect, upper joints bearded, lanceo- 

 late, hairy at the base. . Flowers in appressed panicles. Glumes pur- 

 ple, ciliate. Palece ciliate, purplish. — y. Sept. — Oct. Common. 

 3—5 feet. 



3. E. stric'tis, (Bald.) Stem erect. Leaves long, scabrous on tho 

 margin.s. Panic/e appre&sed ; spikelets 2 flowered ; involucre consist- 

 ing of a few hairs, or wanting. Glumes with the nerves spinous. — If 

 Aug. — Sept. ].ow country. 4 — 6 feet. 



