304 



CLASSIFICATION 



Millets; akh {Saccharum officinarwni), cultivated for 

 sugar ; sabai (Ischcemum angustifolium), a grass from 

 which paper is manufactured in Bengal; bena or 

 khus-khus {Andropogon squarrosus), the fragrant 

 roots of which are woven into screens used for reduc- 

 ing the temperature in summer; chor-kanta or bhant 

 {Andropogon aciculatus), the pest of pastures during 

 the rains; garh-garh or Job's Tears {Coix Lachryma- 

 Jobi); kush (Eragrostis cyno- 

 suroides), the leaves of which are 

 used in religious ceremonies; 

 durba (Cynodon dactylon) (fig. 

 274), a favourite pasture-grass; 

 bans or Bamboo {Bambusa arun- 

 dinacea), used largely for building 

 and thatching purposes; various 

 species of Reeds, such as durma- 

 reed {Phragmites Karka), the split 

 stems of which yield the common 

 durma-mats of Calcutta; kharhi- 

 reeds {Saccharum fuscum), used 

 in making the writing pens of 

 village schools, and also for 

 screens and light fencing; keshp 

 {Saccharum spontaneum), used in inferior thatching 

 as a substitute for straw- and ulu-thatching ; it is a 

 binding grass of sand-wastes; ulu {Imperata arun- 

 dinacea), a grass largely used as a kind of thatching 

 superior to straw-thatching. 



This family, as already stated, is distinctly anemo- 

 philous. The flowers are usually ephemeral, opening 

 only once; the opening or divergence of the flowering 

 glume and palea is effected by the two lodicules, 

 which at the time of the opening of flowers become 

 swollen and rigid, and thereby separate the palea 



Fig. 274. — Durba {Cynodon 

 dactylon) 



