PLANTS. 357 



Orchard or Cock's Foot Grass (Dactylis glomerata"), 

 leaves small, flat, and very sharp on the margins ; stem 

 erect, from nine to eighteen inches long, oblique, geni- 

 culate, often procumbent and radiating at base ; panicles 

 spicate, pyramidal ; blooms in June, July, and August ; 

 grows well in dry meadows, and makes very good 

 fodder. 



The Common Rough Meadow Grass (Poa trivialis). 

 Root tufted; leaves small, naked; stem round, two to 

 three feet high ; panicles loose, expanding ; grows in 

 moist meadows, and, like all the other meadow grasses, 

 makes good hay. 



Coutch or Quitch Grass (Triticum repens). Roots 

 creeping ; leaves sharp above ; sheaths smooth ; stalk 

 from one to three feet high ; spike solitary, ear-like ; 

 blooms from June until September; grows in all fields 

 as a common weed. Makes good fodder ; the root con- 

 tains a portion of mucilaginous sugar, which is used 

 medicinally. Native of Europe, but introduced into the 

 United States. 



Rye Grass Darnel (Lolium perenne), root creep- 

 ing ; leaves small, sharply poihted ; stalk one to two 

 feet high ; spike compressed, slightly bearded ; blooms 

 from June until September ; grows wild in pasture fields, 

 but is also carefully cultivated on account of its excel- 

 lence as fodder. 



The most important of all the grasses belongs to the 

 triticum race, namely : 



Common Wheat (Triticum vulgare), which has a 

 fibrous root ; leaves rather rough on the upper surface, 

 and long; stem smooth, two to three feet tall, crowned 

 with an almost four-cornered terminal spike, on which 

 the grains arranged somewhat like tiles, form an ear. 



