146 NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



Festuca pratensis, Lollium multiflorun, 



Dactylis glomerata, Cynosurus cristatus. 



GRAMINACEAE. THE GEASSES. 



TRIBE I. ORIZEA. , 



Containing those grasses whose spikelets are one flowered^ 

 and whose flowers are often monoecious in branched panicle*. 



108. Oriza Sativa is cultivated only for its grain. LEERSIA 

 oryzoides, rice grass, cut grass, false rice. The rice grass 

 grows with a procumbent stem and an erect panicle, having 

 rough slender branches and long narrow leaves, with sheaths 

 very scabrous. It grows from two to three feet high in wet 

 swampy places. Its spikelets are flat, and the florets of an 

 oval form and triandrous, imbricate. Where other grasses 

 are scarce, this may be cultivated to advantage, as it makes 

 a good hay, and may be cut twice or three times in a season. 

 It flowers from October to' November. 



TRIBE II. PHALARIDEAE. 



The spikelets are one flowered, and perfect / if more than 

 one flowered, polygamous or monoecious. 



EA mays. INDIAN CORN. 



Probably no plant passes into or forms so many varieties 

 as Indian corn, or furnishes so much sustenance for man and 

 beast. It grows within the limits of latitude 4*2 south and 

 45 north, and on plains and mountains. The varieties ripen 

 at different times, some producing in forty days from, plant' 

 ing. Others require six months. The common eight rowed 

 corn cultivated in the middle and northern States, comes to 

 maturity in about ninety days. The stalk of Indian corn, if 

 deprived of its tassel and silk, furnishes a large amount 

 of sugar, but it does not possess qualities so agreeable as 

 those of the sugar cane. Its ability to adapt itself to climate 

 is of immense importance, as this property enables it to be- 

 come widely distributed over the earth's surface. 



