19 



indurated and involving the membranous palet and the pistil ; empty 

 glumes two, nearly equal, membranaceous. 



1. P. latifolius, Trin. South Florida. 



Coix, Linn. 



Flowers monoecious in terminal and lateral cymose panicles, the 

 upper part male, the lower part female. Male spikelets two-flow- 

 ered, empty glumes two, the flowers membranaceous. The pistillate 

 spikelets, one to two flowered, are inclosed within a bract which be- 

 comes a round, bony, shining involucre ; they have each two empty 

 membranaceous glumes, the terminal flower pistillate and fertile, 

 the lower flower neutral. 



1. C. lachryma, Linn. Job's tears. Hardly naturalized. 



Teipsacum, Linn. 



Flowers monoecious in jointed spikes, the upper part of which is 

 male and the lower female. The upper or male spikelets are sessile, 

 in pairs at each joint of the triangular rhachis ; each spikelet con- 

 tains two membranaceous male flowers, the outer glumes coriaceous 

 or rigid. The pistillate spikelets are single and imbedded in the 

 joints of the thickened cartilaginous rhachis, two flowered, the upper 

 flower fertile, the lower neutral; the outer empty glume is thick- 

 ened and cartilaginous, the inner much thinner and pointed ; the 

 flowering glumes and palets are thin and scarious. At maturity the 

 rhachis breaks up at the joints with the imbedded spikelets. 



1. T. dactyloides, Linn. Gama grass. 



A tall, stout, perennial grass, growing sparingly at the North, 

 more common southward to Texas, and in the Western States. 



Mr. Howard, of South Carolina, says of it : 



This is a native of the South, from the mountains to the coast. The seed stem 

 runs up to the height of 5 to 7 feet. The seeds break off from the stem as if from a 

 joint, a single seed at a time. The leaves resemble those of corn. When cut before 

 the seed stems shoot up they make a coarse but nutritious hay. It may be cut three 

 or four times during the season. The quantity of forage which can be made from 

 it is enormous. Both cattle and horses are fond of the hay. The roots are almost 

 as large and strong as cane roots. It would require a team of four to six oxen to 

 plow it up. It can, however, be easily killed by close grazing, and the mass of dead 

 roots wonld certainly enrich the land. As the seeds of this grass vegetate with un- 

 certainty, it is usually propagated by setting out slips of the roots about 2 feet apart 

 each way. On rich land the tussocks will soon meet. In the absence of the finer 



