PALM FAMILY 



497 



in the Southern states, West Indies, Hawaii, and Java for sugar 

 and molasses, there are the meadow and pasture Grasses which 

 are highly important to man. The Grasses most valuable for 

 hay are Timothy and Redtop, while the Kentucky Blue Grass, 

 Bermuda Grass, Brome Grass, Meadow Fescue, and Rye Grass 

 are some of the Grasses useful for pasture. 



A large number of the Grasses are weeds, of which the Sand 

 Bur, Foxtails, Chess, Wild Oats, Quack Grass, and Darnel are 

 some of the worst ones. In the Southern states Johnson Grass, 

 although useful for hay and pasture, is regarded as a weed 



Fig. 451. — A group of Date Palms. 



because it spreads so rapidly by rootstocks to regions where it 

 is not wanted and is so hard to eradicate. Quack Grass, which 

 spreads by rootstocks, is a bad weed in some of the Northern 

 states. The Wild Oats is troublesome in grain fields, and grain 

 containing the seeds of Wild Oats in considerable quantities is 

 usually docked. The seeds of Darnel are poisonous and, when 

 ground with Wheat, make the flour unwholesome, for which 

 reason Darnel is a bad weed. 



Palm Family {Palmaceae). — -This is about the only family of 

 Monocotyledons that contains trees. Nearly all of the family 



