GRAMINACE.E. 



661 



Z. mays. 



Europe, and partially in Asia. In America, Fig. 312. 



especially in the warmer portions, it forms the 

 main article of food. Indian Corn or Maize 

 differs from the other Cerealia in containing 

 no gluten, and hence the meal does not undergo 

 the fermentation called "rising;" but it is ex- 

 tremely wholesome and nutritious, and is em- 

 ployed in a variety of forms in this country. 

 The young ears, when boiled, are much used 

 as a vegetable, and are in general very digesti- 

 ble, but should be eaten with caution by those 

 predisposed to, or suffering from disease of the 

 bowels. In northern Italy, where this corn is 

 much used, and forms the main nourishment of 

 the inhabitants, it has been supposed that it is 

 the cause of a peculiar cutaneous affection, 

 called " pellagra ;" but such can scarcely be 

 the case, as the disease is unknown in this coun- 

 try, where ' Maize is so generally employed. 

 (See Dunglison, Human Health, 251.) 



The hard seeds of Coix lachryma, well 

 known as Job's Tears, have been supposed to 

 be diuretic, and have also formed an article of 

 food during times of scarcity in Spain and Portugal. The grain of Phalaris 

 canariensis, or Canary Grass, is well known as the favourite food of the 

 hard-billed cage-birds ; and the meal is said by Marcel de Serres to form an 

 excellent cataplasm, as it retains moisture for a longer period than any other 

 article of the kind. It also makes an excellent and tenacious paste. One of 

 the most important genera of this tribe is Holcus, so many species of which 

 bear nutritive grains, much used in warm countries as a substitute for wheat. 

 They are usually known under the name of Millet; thus the H. bicolor is 

 cultivated in Persia ; the H. cafrorum at the Cape of Good Hope ; the H. sac- 

 charatus and H. sorghum in Africa and Italy. 

 This latter species forms the principal food of 

 the Arabs and the Fellahs of Egypt, by whom 

 it is termed doura. 



Tribe 3. Panice.e. — This large tribe con- 

 tains few plants of much importance, except as 

 fodder for cattle. Panicum miliaceum and P. 

 pilosum, however, afford kinds of Millet, and 

 are cultivated in India and Italy, as is also the 

 Setaria italica, or Italian Millet. A fine- 

 grained corn is also used on the west coast of 

 Africa, which is the product of Paspalum exile. 

 A Surinam species of this genus, P. ciliatum, 

 is said by Rottboll to be beneficial in jaundice ; 

 and a variety of P. frumentaceum, of India, is 

 stated to occasion vertigo and other unpleasant 

 cerebral affections {Mem. da Mus. vi. 320). 

 P. scrobiculatum, of India, is said to render the 

 milk of cows narcotic and drastic. 



Tribe 4. Stipeje, and 5. Agroste;e, require 

 no notice, as their species are unimportant, both 

 in medicine and as articles of human food. 



Fig. 313. 



Panicum miliaceum. 



