II INTRODUCTION. 



The study of our native flora renders a visit to any and every 

 diflPerent locality interesting, inasmuch as we come upon fresh 

 objects of attraction wherever we happen to bend our steps. 

 How often have we heard it declared that such and such a 

 place was dull, nothing going on, nothing to do in order to 

 pass away time pleasantly; whilst a naturalist would tell you 

 that those identical localities teemed with objects of interest. 

 To those who extend their pleasures to the beauties of this 

 earth, there are attractions everywhere. 



We are so accustomed to Grasses varying from one to four 

 or five feet in height, that when we turn our attention to Exotic 

 species above ten times these dimensions, we become bewildered, 

 yet so it is. In the JSTew Continent Baron Humboldt discovered 

 a gigantic Guaduas which grew from fifty to sixty feet high. 

 To the east of the Duida Mountains, growing at the foot of the 

 great mountain cluster of Maravaca, is a colossal grass with 

 stalks whose joints measure above eighteen feet from knot to 

 knot, and which the Indians make use of as blowpipes for the 

 discharge of their arrows. This noble grass, which is a species 

 of Arundiuaria, is well described by Schomburgk; he speaks of 

 it as growing in large tufts like the Bambusa, the first joint 

 rising in the old cane sixteen or seventeen feet before it com- 

 mences to bear leaves. Although it attains the height of forty 

 feet, it scarcely exceeds half an inch in diameter. The top is 

 always inclining, which enables it to withstand winds more 

 easily. This grass appears to be confined to the sandstone 

 mountains between the Ventuari, the Paramu, (Padamo,) and 

 the Mavaca. 



Thus in tropical regions grasses exceed the height of our 

 noble oaks. In Italy we have the first approach to a tree-grass 

 in the species Arundo donax; north of this there are no arbo- 

 rescent species. 



The most Antarctic flowering plant is a grass, (the Aira An- 

 tarctica/) it is found in south latitude 63° in South Shetland 



