r hi; ( i k a ss ks < > F T i ; n n i :ss k k. 17 



ponica. The long and very numerous luwer leaves are variegated 

 with cross or longitudinal white bands. The rather delicate and 

 somewhat fan-shaped panicles, if cut when just expanding, are 

 valued for winter bouquets. 



5. SACCHARUM Linn. Gen. V\. ed. i. Xo. 49 ('735)- 



Spikelets all alike perfect, awnless, in numerous jointed racemes, 

 forming much-branched terminal panicles. The somewhat hard- 

 ened first and second glumes empty, equal, awnless, pilose with 

 long silky hairs, especially on the callus. Third glume, when 

 present, empty and hyaline. The fourth or flowering glume awn- 

 less or simply mucronate-pointed, hyaline. 



Tall erect perennials with usually simple culms, long leaves and 

 ample terminal panicles; the small spikelets surrounded by long 

 silky hairs. Allied to Erianthus. 



Species twelve, chiefly in the tropics of the Old World. 



I. Saccharum officinarum Linn. Sugar Cane. 



Culms many jointed, six to twenty feet high; leaves three to four 

 feet long and two to three inches wide; panicle rather dense, ovate- 

 pyramidal, the racemes two to four inches long; spikelets about 

 tvvo inches long, much exceeded by the hairs surrounding the base. 



Native country not known, probably tropical Asia, but now ex- 

 tensively cultivated in all tropical countries and in some of the 

 Gulf States, especially Louisiana, where its product (molasses and 

 sugar) has become a staple of commerce. A number of varieties 

 have been produced, distinguished chiefly by the color and height 

 of stem. 



6. ERIANTHUS Michx. Flor. Bor. Am. i: 54 (1S03). 



Spikelets in pairs, one sessile the other pedicellate, along the 

 articulate and readily disjointing panicle-branches, both alike her- 

 maphrodite. Glumes four: the outer ones sub-equal, firm-mem- 

 branaceous, the first flattened on the back and more or less bicari- 

 nate and two-toothed at the narrow apex, the second somewhat 

 rounded on the back, sharply acuminate-pointed and more or less 

 keeled above. The third and fourth glumes a little shorter than 

 the outer ones, hyaline, the third empty and nearly always awn- 

 less, the fourth enclosing a hermaphrodite flower and awned. 

 Palea usually much shorter than its glume, nerveless. Lodi- 

 cules cuneate, ciliate or naked. 



Tall, reed-like perennials with the spikelets in many-jointed 

 racemes, which are sessile along the main axis, forming an ample 

 terminal and usually woolly panicle. 



Species about eighteen, in the warmer regions of both hemi- 

 spheres. Tennessee species, as here treated, four. 



