GRAMINACE.E. 665 



Medical Uses. — Pearl Barley is used for making a decoction called Barley- 

 water, which is an excellent diet for invalids, especially when suffering from 

 inflammation of the internal organs. Where it is wished of a more emollient 

 and laxative nature, the addition of liquorice-root and some of the dried fruits 

 will answer the purpose, if boiled with it. The infusion of malt has been 

 highly spoken of as an antiscorbutic, and has also been recommended as a 

 tonic in several diseases. The various malt liquors have been much em- 

 ployed as tonics and restoratives, and the Yeast formed during the fermenta- 

 tion of these fluids was at one time in high repute in typhoid fevers, and is 

 still favourably thought of by several eminent practitioners. It is also used 

 in the formation of the Fermenting poultice, so advantageous an application 

 to fetid and sloughing ulcers. 



Secale. — Linn. 



Spikelets 2-flowered. Florets sessile, distichous, with a rudiment of a terminal one. 

 Glumes two, herbaceous, carinated, almost opposite, awnless or awned. Palese two, 

 herbaceous ; the lower one awned at the point, keeled, and inequilateral ; the upper 

 shorter and bicarinate. Stamens three. Ovary pyriform, pilose. Stigmas two, sub-ses- 

 sile, plumose, with long 1 , simple, finely-dentated hairs. Scales two, entire, ciliated. 

 Caryopsis hairy at the point and loose. 



A small genus, principally peculiar to the temperate parts of Europe and 

 central Asia. One species is much cultivated, especially in cold climates. 



S. cereale, Linn. — Stem in a wild state short. Lower leaves and their sheaths co- 

 vered with a soft down. Rachis bearded on each side with white hairs. Glumes subu- 

 late, ciliated, scabrous, shorter than the florets. Outer paleee folded, keeled, 3-nerved, 

 with very long awns. Nerves and awns very rough. 



Linn. Sp. PI. 124 ; Kunth, Agrost. 449; Lindley, Fl. Med. 610. 



Common Name. — Rye. 



Foreign Names. — Seigle, Fr. ; Korn, Ger. ; Segala, It. 



Rye has been considered as a native of Crete, but it appears that another 

 species, the S. villosum, was mistaken for it ; at present it is thought to be 

 originally from the countries around Caucasus. It is cultivated extensively 

 in the north of Europe and in the United States. It is mentioned in the New 

 Testament, and is probably the Olyra of Pliny. Bread made from the flour 

 of this grain is dark-coloured, and not as digestible as that from wheat. It, 

 however, forms a very general article of diet in some parts of Europe and 

 this country. Rye porridge or mush is laxative, and is sometimes an ad- 

 vantageous diet for persons suffering from habitual constipation, and has been 

 praised as the common food in consumptive cases. 



The Rye is very subject to a disease, caused by the growth of a fungus on 

 the grains, which produces a morbid growth. This is called Ergot, or 

 Spurred Rye, and has been much employed of late years as a parturient, and 

 for other purposes (see Ergotcetia). 



Belonging to this tribe is one of the few poisonous species of the order, 

 Lolium temulentum, or Darnel. The seeds of this plant are acro-narcotic, 

 and are capable of producing intoxication, and even fatal convulsions. This 

 was known to the ancients, and hence Virgil terms it infelix ; the Romans 

 also thought that it induced blindness. The observations of Sarazin and 

 others, show that the deleterious principle is volatile, as hot bread in which 

 Darnel enters is far more dangerous than when suffered to cool. It is stated 

 that this substance is mixed with the Opium employed in Turkey for the pur- 

 poses of intoxication. The ancients used cataplasms of Darnel to stimulate 

 indolent ulcers, and to alleviate scrofulous swellings, and obstinate cutaneous 

 affections. 



