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 
