IV INTRODUCTION. 



The Bamboo comprise a small tribe of huge Exotic Grasses 

 of the East Indies, found in the Islands of Java and Mada- 

 gascar. There are eight species found at Apetalj — the B. 

 aristata, growing twenty feet high; B. arundinacea, forty feet; 

 B. glauca, twenty feet; B. nigra, twenty feet; B, puhescens, B. 

 spinosa, B. stricta, and B. verticillata, all attaining a height of 

 twenty feet. 



The Tussac Grass, (Dactylis coespitosa,) of the Falkland 

 Islands and Terra del Fuego, was brought to this country by 

 the celebrated arctic and antarctic explorer. Sir J. C Ross. It 

 is a most valuable grass for agricultural purposes, being large 

 and standing the climate of England. The young shoots are 

 boiled and eaten like asparagus. It is also an extremely orna- 

 mental plant. 



All the grasses, including wheat, barley, oats, and rye, yield 

 starch unmixed with any deleterious matter. 



One English grass, the Bearded Rye Grass, {LoUum temu- 

 lentum,) is said to have poisonous qualities, and this I believe 

 is the only poisonous grass. 



Every British Grass but one is contained in the third class 

 of Linnaeus — Triandria; the solitary exception is Anthoxanthum 

 odoratum, belonging to the second class — Diandria. 



The Grasses are in many respects allied to the sedges, the 

 latter are distinguished, however, by their solid stems, (the 

 Grasses are all hollow stemmed,) and by their leaves completely 

 surrounding the stem, like a tube; in the Grasses they only 

 sheathe instead of surrounding the stem. 



All the species have a thin siliceous coating on their stems, 

 which appears to impart greater strength and durability than 

 could have been procured by simple ligneous fibre, and this 

 gives their stems that highly-polished appearance. Flint is also 

 formed at their joints. It is one of the wonders of the vege- 

 table kingdom, how solid flint can be formed on the stems 

 and in the interior of the stalks of grass; and when we observe 



