61 



resembling and equalling the upper glume ; upper membra- 

 naceous or wanting. Paleae of the fertile flower two, equal, 

 cartilaginous ; permanent ; investing, but scarcely cohering to, 

 the ripe fruit. 



The original genus Panicum, so named from the Latin panis, 

 bread, on account of the foodful quality of the seeds of certain 

 species, has been much curtailed and broken up by modern 

 botanists, the solitary British species here retained being itself the 

 type of one of the more recently established- genera, Echinochloa. 

 The number of species of Panicum as formerly estimated, upwards 

 of two hundred, renders any available character of separation 

 deserving of our notice; but, however generally adopted, those 

 now in use are, with very slight exception, far from being satis- 

 factory. 



The Panick Grasses have an exceedingly wide distribution, but 

 are chiefly met with among the natural vegetation of warm and 

 especially of tropical countries, where, in many districts, they con- 

 stitute the chief support of herbivorous animals, being the true 

 pasture grasses of the land. Several of the species thus subservient 

 attain the height of from six to ten or twelve feet, the herbage being 

 equally " tender and delicate " with that of our English meadows. 

 One species, P. arborescens, is among the tallest of the Grass 

 family, contending for elevation with the loftiest trees of the forests 

 of Hindustan, through the branches of which its slender stems, 

 scarcely thicker than a goose-quill, penetrate, until they are seen 

 towering above their summits. 



Notwithstanding the small, in some instances even diminutive 

 size of the grain in these Grasses, several of them have been objects 

 of agriculture among the Eastern nations from time immemorial. 

 Of these P. mUiaceum is the best known, from the long cultivation 

 of its two varieties. Brown and Yellow Millet, in southern Europe j 

 it is the cheena of the Hindus, by whom P. miliare and P. Jrumen- 

 taceum are likewise grown, as food for the poorer classes, in dry 

 and elevated lands, — the latter, called shama and sanwuk, being 

 esteemed one of the most wholesome and nutritious kinds of grain. 



In England the Millets are seldom used except for feeding 

 poultry. 



Panicum (Echinochloa) Crus-galli. Loose Panick Grass. 

 Plate LI. 

 Panicle erect; its branches alternate, unilateral, more or less 

 adpressed to the angular common rachis. Spikelets ovate, turgid, 

 hispid, subunilateral. Lower glume very shoi-t, between heart- 

 shape and ovate, mucronate; upper one ovate-acuminate, five- 

 veined, hispid. Barren flower with two palese, the lower one large, 

 and terminating in a more or less elongated bristle-like point. 



