DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 



291 



Sarkara, Sanscrit name for sugar. 

 Schcenus nigricans. 



An European species of sedge grass that is used in Italy for rough ropes. S. 

 melanostachys is a Queensland species, the culms of which are used in basket manu- 

 facture. 



Scirpus lacustris. The Bulrush. Mat Bush. 



A tall sedge abounding in ponds and swamps throughout North America; com- 

 mon in Europe, northern Asia,, Australia, and some of the Pacific islands. Known 

 in Italy as Giunco da stuoie ; in Hawaii as Akaahai. (See fig. 95.) 



Structural Fiber. — The entire stem is used in many parts of the world for mats 

 and mattings. Among the curious and interesting objects manufactured from this 

 sedge grass are baskets, beehives, horse collars, etc. ; in England, shoes, used in 

 Denmark when thrashing buckwheat to prevent 

 crushing the grain; packsaddles, in Guernsey, 

 for conveying "wrack " from the seashore. The 

 Kew Mus. exhibits a great coat made from this 

 rush, in Portugal. A variety of the species, 

 occidentalis, is the Tule of the Pacific Coast. 

 Used in California as cases for the protection of 

 wine bottles packed for shipment, just as straw 

 covers are used for the same purpose in Europe. 

 See also Eleocharis palasiris. 



The Yokuts of the Tulare Lake region of Cali- 

 fornia construct very rude, frail punts, or mere 

 troughs of Tule, about 10 feet long, in which 

 they cruise timidly about the Tulare Lake, near 

 the shore. (Stephen Powers.) 



* Specimens of Tule, Mus. U. S. Dept. Ag. 



Screw pine (see Pandanus). 



Scriptural fibers (see Introduction, 

 Ancient Uses of Fibers). 



Sea rush (or coast rush). Juncus mari- 

 timus. 



Sea mallow. Lavatera maritima. 



Sea mat grass. Sea reed and sea-sand 

 grass. See Ammophila. 



Seaside grass. Cyperus tegetum. 



Fig. 95.— The Bulrush, Scirpus 



Seaweeds. ucustHs. 



While these marine plants are not strictly speaking fibrous, several species are 

 employed in place of fibers, such as the Macrocystis, from which fish lines are obtained. 

 In southern Europe the leaves of another form of marine or aquatic weed (see Zos- 

 tera) is employed as a packing material. These plants belong, however, to the grass 

 wrack order, and are in no way related to the true seaweeds or Algae. 



Sea -wrack, Grass wrack, etc. Zostera marina. 

 Secale cereale. Eye. 



Endogen. Graminece. A cereal grass. 

 An annual, 4 to 6 feet high, with flat leaves and a terminal, somewhat flattened, 



