GRAMINACEOUS PLANTS. 291 
Spikelets sag acer lower paleze oh psc herganscr 4 the gracefa 
t the base, fruit, indurated. sap SERRE 
IV. Stiprz, {i inwards, awn simple, articulated Stina perm oa. po Roane ch old Gerarde 
vith ladie 
SLongren one-flowered ; glumes and } 17 genera, including the Bent 
V. AGROSTIDEA. pal. ~~ — membranous and ore grasses and vy ny curious genera 
. ceo a of easy cultu 
of 
reed- _ linge jonah unda do- 
VI. ARUNDINEZ. n Fran rn taly 
tite 12 genera, mate y tall grasses, 0 
Sndicessons of an upper oat pei 
Hore ouaes with long hairs ; 
as ths Scie. ee 3, fishi 
two, many-flowered, upper) 10 genera of obscure and value- 
VIL. PapropHore.z. Be srr sige oe and paleze two, in- as plants, including the curious 
florescence panicled. ) bearded Amphiphogan of Australia. 
‘areas ler u, many-fio — 
ring, glum and 
Vil. CHroripEz. me eg itkus panicled, giumes aku 
perme ent on the rachis, which is con- tis 
icle branch open, rarely in clusters, > vated bose _. ~— other species 
or spike- ike F "glumes two, palez two, } of less i 
and awned, awn dorsal and twisted. 
ik era of grasses, including 
X. Festuces, jem grasses ; spikelets sa Bes Pig pe ed for vir eep oe and 
grasses; spikelets containing ee ae ae 
tw Pg i seven rfect florets; pan- enera, includin, e culti- 
IX. AvVENE®. | pe Pp ater 8 g iz 
Peon FE sia two, paleze two, with > 7, adi ie for its il danci 
3 ng 
awn, panicle branched and spreading. atneieln, andB, wh set te a “te itscanes. 
arley plants; spikelet one, three, 
XI and 80 i er heh terminal floret 8 genera, including Wheat ( Tri- 
- HoRpEz. mes erg eee ticum), Barley reiomeasess Rye- 
ea "pale to, ovary h grass ( Solium), Rye 
pri spiked. 
Spikelets one, two, rarely three- F 13 genera, —— of i stl 
XI. Porrs flowered; infloresence one Piper? S ieant Figo including Zripsa- 
een the hollows of -_ ‘orage grasses of the 
glumes one or tw 
ti. asoarocoree, {St 2 os ae ea nee 
The vast family of Endogens is universally diffused. “ Agrostis 
_ algeda was found by Phipps on Spitzbergen,” says Babington. “ On 
the mountains of the south of Europe Poa disticha and other grasses 
_4scend almost to the snow line; and this is also the case on the 
Andes with P. dactyloides, Dryeuxia rigida, and Festuca Dasy- 
atha.” Their different dimensions are equally striking. Some 
Species of Bambusa are 50 to 60 feet high; in these islands we are 
better acquainted with them as forming the compact grassy turf 
of our meadows, lawns, and hayfields. 
Tt would be impossible to exaggerate the importance of this great 
y of plants. Most of them contain abundance of wholesome 
fecula, and comparatively few of them are objectionable, although 
the cereal grasses only are cultivated for human food. Those 
Teckoned deleterious may bebriefly enumerated. Loliumtemulentum, 
* common weed in many parts of Britain, is said to be injurious to 
aes Bromus ek ee and catharticus are emetic and purgative. 
u2 
