GRASS FAMILY. 387 



injury : though it must be admitted, I think, by the most inveterate 

 defender of that faith, that in undergoing the metamorphosis, the plant 

 is surprisingly uniform in its vagaries, in always assuming the exact 

 structure and character of Bromus ! 



A similar hallucination has long prevailed among the peasantry of 

 Europe, in relation to this supposed change of character in the Grasses. 

 But, in the Old World, they were even more extravagant than with us ; 

 for they believed that Wheat underwent sundry transmutations, first 

 changing to Rye then to Barley then to Bromus, and finally from 

 Bromus to Oats ! I believe the most credulous of our countrymen have 

 not been able, as yet, to come up with their transatlantic brethren, in 

 this matter. This grass has been cultivated within a few years as 

 Willard's Bromus, and the seed sold at a high price. The farmers 

 found that they not only did not get a valuable grass, but were really 

 propagating a worthless and pernicious weed, being thus doubly cheated. 



2. B. racemo'sus, L. Panicle erect, contracted in fruit ; lower palea 

 decidedly exceeding the upper, bearing an awn of its own length. 

 RACEMED BROMUS. Upright Chess. Smooth Brome Grass. 



Stem more slender than in chess. Sheaths hairy, in other respects resembling it. Ac- 

 cording to Mr. Flint, the most reliable distinction between this and chess, (for which it is 

 often mistaken,) is that the summit of the large glume reaches midway between the sum- 

 mit and the base of the third jloret in the spikelet ; while in chess it only comes to the 

 middle of the second floret. ' 



Common in grain fields. Native of Europe. June. 



Obs. This is a worthless species found in grain fields, as is B. mollis, 

 which resembles the preceding, but has long awned flowers which, as 

 also the leaves, ar downy, and the spikelets are closely imbricated. By 

 some, the two are considered as forms of the same species. There are 

 two native species of the genus, of no agricultural value. 



16. PHRAGMI'TES, Trin. REED. 



[Greek, Phragmos, a partition o rhedge ; from the use said to be made of it.] 



Spikelets 3 - 7-flowered ; Jloret s distichous, rather distant, not hairy at 



base, tjje lowest one neuter or with a single stamen, the others perfect ; 



rachis clothed with long silky hairs. Glumes keeled, acute, membrana- 



ceous, shorter than the florets, very unequal. Palece membranaceous, the 



lower one thrice the length of the upper, narrow-subulate the upper 



one 2-keeled. Stamens 3. Grain free. Perennial grasses with tall 



simple culms, broad leaves and large terminal panicles. 



1. P. commu'nis, Trin. Panicle large, loosely expanded ; spikelets 



3 - 5-flowered. 



COMMON PHRAGMITES. Reed Grass. 



Fr. Roseau a balais". +Germ. Gemeines Rohr. Span. Cana. 



Culm 8-12 feet high, and often an inch or more in diameter at base, nodose, terete, 

 glabrous. Leaves 1-2 feet long, and about 2 inches wide at base, linear-lanceolate, attenu- 



