SECT. II 



PHANEROGAMIA 



481 



forests. The most important of the cereal grasses grow in the Temperate Zone : 

 "Wheat, Triticum vulgare, with numerous varieties and races, e.g. T. turgidum, T. 

 durum, T. polonicum ; Spelt or German Wheat, T. Spelta; Amel corn or French rice, 

 T. dicoccum ; One-grained Wheat, T. monococcum ; Rye, Secale cereale ; Barley, Eor- 

 deum vulgare, in several varieties and races, as S. hexasticlmm, H. distichum, etc. ; 

 Oats, Avena satira ; Maize, Zea Mais; and numerous fodder-plants. The native 

 condition of the cereals is unknown, except in the case of Sordeum distichum, the 



Fig. 423. — Oryza saliva. 1, In- 

 florescence ; 2, spikelet. (After 

 Wossidlo.) 



Fig. 424. — Sacclmrum ofitcinarum (greatly reduced). 

 2, Flower after removal of the 

 Officinal. (After Wossidlo.) 



two-rowed Barley, which is found in Asia, and Maize which is of American origin. 

 The other cereals were probably indigenous to Asia or Eastern Europe. Rice, Oryzct, 

 sativa (Fig. 423), originally derived from the East Indies, and Saccharum qfficin- 

 arum, Sugar-cane (Fig. 424), are cultivated in the Tropics and sub-tropical zones. 

 The latter is a perennial plant with solid internodes filled with parenchyma, from 

 the cell-sap of which part of the cane-sugar of commerce is obtained by a process of 

 evaporation and subsequent refining (cf. Beta vulgaris). The Sugar-cane is not 

 found growing wild ; its native home was undoubtedly tropical Eastern Asia. The 

 Indian Millet, Andropogon Sorghum, and the different species of Bambusa, whose 

 stems not only furnish a convenient building material, but their hollow internodes 

 serve also for household utensils, are also chiefly tropical. 



Poisonous. — Lolium temulentum, Bearded Darnel (Fig. 425), an annual grass 



