890 



LV. GEAMINE.33. 



liambusa Thouartii. 



Bumboo. 

 Embryo (mag.). 



ovata. 

 Caryopsis (mag. 



ligulate sheath, their usually fistular culm, with swollen knots, which form septa at the point of junction 

 with the leaves. The arborescent Gratninets, and noUibly the Bamboos, of which the flower is hexandrous 

 and furnished with a whorl of three glumelles, offer some points of resemblance with Palms. 



Brongniart has recently observed the phenomena of sleep in Strephiwn yuyanense, belonging to the 

 tribe Paniceee ; its leaves, which spread during the day, are erect and close over each other at night, like 

 those of the Sensitive-plant and some other Mimosete, 



This immense family is distributed over all the globe, from the tropics to the frozen regions; the 

 majority inhabit the temperate zone, but Panicea, Chlorideee, Oryzea, Andropoyoneoe and Bamboos are 

 especially tropical. The native country of the cultivated cereals is still unknown. 



Gramituxe contain in their herbage, and especially in their seeds, nutritious principles, which 

 entitle them to the first rank amongst plants useful to man, and which are of the greatest importance in 

 an economic and political point of view. Besides starch, sugar and mucilage, they yield sulpho-azotized 

 matters (Jibrine, casein, albttmine), elements essential to the formation of flesh in animals, and especially 

 phosphate of lime, which is the basis of their bony framework. The Cerealia, whose seeds abound in 

 starch, a/otized matter and phosphates, are: Wheat (Tritictim sativwii), Rye (Secale cereale), Barley 

 (Hordeitm vuJyare, dislicJium, &c.), Oats (Avena sntiva), all cultivated by the Caucasian race in the northern 

 and temperate regions. Rice (Oryza saliva) and Millet (Panicutn nriliaceum) originated amongst the Asiatic 



