296 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



on the uortheru edge, near the west end, boasted that his rye bread was better 

 than, and nearly as white as, the Englishman's wheaten loaf. Cobbet named 

 his place Hyde Park, a name it still retains. 



Etymology. — The word secale is supposed to be derived from the Celtic 

 word sega, a sickle, or from the Latin seco, cut, in allusion to the sharp, 

 rough edges of the leaves. The specific name, cereale, means " bread-corn " or 

 " bread-material," from Ceres, the goddess of food plants. The common name, 

 rye, is from the Anglo-Saxon ryge. 



History. — We have no positive knowledge when rye was first cultivated. 

 It was spoken of by writers in the first century of our era. It is native to 

 southern Russia, and the regions north of the Black and Caspian seas. To 

 tlie North German, the Pole, the Norwegian, the Swede, and the Russian, rye 

 is what wheat is to the inhabitant of southern Europe, the Briton, and the 

 American. 



It was used largely in England in early times, probably having been intro- 

 duced by the Danes and Saxons. The wheat introduced earlier by the Romans 

 was regarded as a delicacy, and its use was confined to a few. History relates 

 that among the upper classes in Great Britain hospitality was a prominent 

 feature, and Avhen visitors came, the most lavish jjrofusion was exercised 

 in their entertainment. Among the delicacies proffered on such occasions 

 was wheat bread ; but when the guest prolonged his stay, he began to be 

 treated as a member of the household, and the rye bread was returned to the 

 table. At first this was taken as a compliment, but it finally came to be 

 understood as a hint that the visit had been sufficiently long. Hence the 

 proverb : " Do not prolong your visit till the rye loaf comes on." 



[Ise. — Bread, cakes, biscuit, and puddings are made of rye ; in fact it is 

 applied to most of the purposes for which wheat is used. In the central 

 states rye is extensively used in the manufacture of whiskey. In Holland it 

 is mixed with both barley and buckwheat for distilling ; the liquors thus pro- 

 duced are called " Hollands," and when flavored with juniper berries, they 

 form gin. 



Rye is an excellent feed for cattle, and especially for cows when giving 

 milk. 



HOEDETJM, L. (Barle3\) Three spikelets at each point of the 

 rachis, each 1-flowered, the side florets sometimes abortive ; glumes 

 linear-lanceolate, fiat, stiff, awn's awl-shaped ; paleae herbaceous, lower 

 one concave, terminating in an awn, upper one 2-keeled; scales 2, 

 sometimes 2-lobed, ciliate, sometimes smooth ; stamens 3 ; ovary 

 sessile, hairy at the top ; stigmas 2, nearly terminal, and sessile. 

 Caryopsis terminating in a hairy summit. It is an annual, flowering 

 and fruiting the same season it is sown. 



1. H. vulgare. L. (Barley.) Culm or stem 2 to 3 feet high, smooth. 

 Leaves linear-lanceolate, keeled, and striate, smoothish, eared at the throat ; 

 heads 3 inches long, stout, 4-sided, sometimes somewhat 6-sided, lower paleae 

 crowned with long awns, serrulate on the margin ; upper palese obtuse or 

 emarginate. Flowers in May. Fruits in July. 



2. H. distichum, L. Stem 2 to 3 feet high. Leaves like the last. Heads 

 about 4 inches long, flattened, and 2-ranked. Husk attached to the ripe grain. 

 Flowers in June, and ripens in last of July to August. 



