326 BOTANICAL GAZETTE : [ Dec., 
these cells or groups of cells in grasses than in sedges. Perhaps 
we should expect this as most of the sedges thrive in wet places, 
where the conditions are uniform, while the grasses thrive in a 
much greater variety of places. Still we find a greater differ- 
entiation of parts in the leaves of marsh grasses than in the sedges 
growing near them. 
Some of these characters in the leaves of grasses and sedges 
may be useful in description and classification. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE X.—The drawings are all diagrammatic and repre- 
sent portions of the tranverse sections of the leaf. Fig. 1, Sesleria cerulea ; 
a, median strand of hypodermal fibres; 5, median fibro-vascular bundle; e¢ d’, 
lateral strands of hypodermal fibres; e, epidermis; /, bulliform cells when leaf 
is closed; g, same when leaf is open; hf h, lateral fibro-vascular bundles; 
i, lacuna, 120 (Douval-Jouvé). Fig. 2, Zea Mays, 17 (Sudworth, in Beal’s. 
Grasses). Fig, 3, Dactylis glomerata, <38 (Sudworth, l.c). Fig. 4, Poa pra- 
tensis, X75 (Sudworth, I. c). Fig. 5, Phleum pratense, 20 (Sudworth, I. c)- 
Fig. 6, Leersia oryzoides, ><350 (Douval Jouvé). Fig. 7, Amphicarpunr 
Purshii, 25 (Sudworth, 1. c). Fig. 8, Panicum plicatum, ><10 (Douval-- 
Jouvé). Fig. 9, Andropogon prinoides, 50 (Douval-Jouvé). Fig. 11, Cyperus 
rotundus, var. Hydra, X55. Fig. 12, Kyllingia pumila, 55. Fig. 13, Fim 
bristylis autumnalis, X55. Fig. 14, Rhynchospora capillacea, X55. Fig. 16, 
Carex vulpinoidea, <46. Fig. 16, C. Pennsylvanica, 55. Fig. 17, C. Carey- 
ana, X55. Fig. 18, C. laxiflora, var. latifolia, 55. 
— 
Hieroehloa borealis. 
WALTER DEANE. 
A visit at Rye Beach, N. H., during the month of August, 
1886, and an acquaintance with an Indian named Sabbatis Dana, 
who camps in the town every summer and sells baskets and other 
articles, have given me some interesting facts in regard to the 
Hierochloa borealis, or Holy Grass. It is one of our widely dis- 
tributed grasses, ranging over the northern half of the United 
States and northward. In this section of the country, eastern 
New England, it is generally found near the sea shore, and is one 
of our earliest flowering grasses. I have collected it in the middle 
of May and, at that time, only the culm, rising from the creeping 
root-stocks, is visible. Later in the season, from the same root- 
stocks, at intervals of two or three inches, there grow radica 
leaves in tufts. In the months of J uly and August these leaves 
_ reach their full height. The length of the grass much surprised 
_ me,as I can find no mention made of it. I saw it three feet i 
