156 



appear to be divided. As a matter of fact, few people have experience 

 of it at present. It is a common weed of warm countries, and I give 

 notes on the experience of observers in other parts of the world. 

 The late Mr. Thomas Bawden, of Grafton, wrote : — "The enclosed 

 grass is spreading very much here, even overrunning the common 

 Couch. Stock do not seem to care much for it." 



A Casino correspondent, however, writes, " Eagerly eaten by cattle 

 and horses." 



Mr. Bailey speaks of it as a good summer grass in Queensland, but 

 not liked by the farmer, as it spreads into cultivated places. 



" An annual grass belonging to tropical countries, but now 

 naturalised in most temperate climates. In the Southern States it is 

 found in every door-yard and in all waste places." 



Professor Phares, of Mississippi, says : " The clumps have many 

 long leaves and stems rising 1 or 2 feet high, and many long, strong, 

 deeply-penetrating, fibrous roots. It grows readily in door-yards, 

 barn-yards, and rich, cultivated grounds, and produces an immense 

 quantity of seeds. It is a very nutritious grass, and good for grazing, 

 soiling, and hay. The succulent lower part of the stems, covered 

 with the sheaths of the leaves, render it difficult to cure well, for which 

 several days are required. It may be cut two or three times, and 

 yields a large quantity of hay." (Vasey.) 



tc Confined to rich waste places and old yards and gardens, and is 

 rarely or never seen in ordinary cultivated fields, and is never used for 

 hay, as it is only found in tufts and sparsely." (Pavenel, quoted by 

 Vasey.) 



" It is eaten by horses and cattle, and in some districts of India is 

 considered to be a good fodder-grass, though Roxburgh says that 

 cattle are not fond of it ; this remark may, however, apply chiefly to 

 the Bengal form, which the nature of the climate would render more 

 rank and unpalatable." (Duthie.) 



Other uses. — A decoction of this grass is said to be used in British 

 Guiana in the convulsions of infants. 



Habitat and range. — A native of Queensland and New South Wales, 

 which is advancing down the coast and has arrived at least as far 

 south as Port Jackson. It is found in most warm countries. 



75. LBPTOCHLOA. 



Spikelets several-flowered, or rarely one-flowered, sessile in two rows 

 along one side of the slender usually numerous branches of a simple 

 panicle, the rhachis of the spikelet articulate above the outer glumes 

 and more or less produced above the flowering ones. 



Glumes keeled, acute or obtuse, unawned, the two outer empty ones 

 shorter or rarely as long as the flowering ones. 



Palea prominently two-nerved or folded. 



Grain smooth or nearly so, the pericarp very thin and adnate. 



Spikelets five- or six-flowered. Flowering glumes rather obtuse. 



Spikes dense, mostly crowded at the end of the rhachis ... 1, L. suhdigitata. 

 Spikes slender, scattered along the long slender rhachis ... 2. L. chinensis. 



