Illustrated Descriptions of the Grasses 



membered that the charm bag of Brer Rabbit carried "one 

 ricebud bill." 



Rice Cut-grass 

 Leersia oryzoidcs 



Indian Rice. Wild Rice. 

 Reeds. Zi^dnia palustris L. 



Stem 3-10 ft. tall, smooth, stout, 

 erect. Sheaths loose. Ligule 

 about 3" long. Leaves 1-3 ft. 

 long, 3"-i6" wide. 

 Panicle 1-2 ft. long, pyramidal. 

 Spikelets i-flowered. Scales 2. 

 The upper portion of panicle 

 consists of erect branches bear- 

 ing narrow pistillate spikelets 

 4"-i2" long; outer scale bearing 

 a rough awn i'-2' long; the lower 

 portion of panicle consists of 

 widely spreading branches bear- 

 ing staminate, awnless spikelets 

 3"-6" long. Stamens 6. Grain about 6" long. 

 Swamps and borders of streams. June to 



October. 

 New Brunswick to Manitoba, south to Florida 

 and Texas. 



RICE CUT-GRASS AND WHITE- 

 GRASS 



Brook borders offer so much of beauty 

 in their flora that the less noticeable leaves 

 and blossoms of such waterside plants as 

 Rice Cut-grass and White-grass often serve 

 only as a background, intensifying the bril- 

 liancy of cardinal-flowers and emphasizing 

 the deep blue of gentians. But if one at- 

 tempts to walk through a tangle of these 

 grasses, in order to reach some flower that 

 grows between the rocks at the water's 

 edge, rough leaves and sheaths clothed in 

 minute, hooked prickles delay progress, and 

 if the hand is used in pushing the grasses 

 89 



