Illustrated Descriptions of the Graisses 



WIRE-GRASS 



AND 



EGYPTIAN 



GRASS 



The coarse 

 leaves and stems 

 of Wire-grass 

 form a thick, green 

 carpeting in dooryards and 

 by footpaths in many of the 

 states during the middle and latter 

 part of summer. This grass is a native 

 of warm countries of the Eastern Hemis- 

 phere, and, although gradually becoming 

 common in southern New England, is 

 most abundant in the South, where it 

 usually suffers the reproach of being called 

 a weed, so rarely are plant immigrants 

 honoured unless they pay the toll of use- 

 fulness. 



Wire-grass is low and leafy, sending 

 up numerous flowering-heads which in 

 appearance call to mind the familiar Crab- 

 grass, though the most casual observer 

 could hardly mistake it for that species, 

 since the spreading spikes of Wire-grass 

 are so much heavier and thicker. On the 

 "coasts of Coromandel" a stout species 

 of this genus was cultivated for its large, 

 farinaceous seeds which were used as 

 food. 



Egyptian Grass (Dactyloctenium aegyp- 

 tium), whose grain has been used for food 

 and also medicinally, resembles Wire-grass 

 and is found in similar locations, though 

 it is less widely distributed in this country. 

 It blooms in late summer and from the preceding species 

 it may be distinguished by the sharp terminal points of 



165 



Wire-grass 

 Eleusine indica 



