﻿34 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



41918 to 41921— Continued. 



41918. Thelepogon elegans Roth. Poaceae. Grass. 

 " A coarse perennial grass with stems 1 to 3 feet high, usually woody 



at the base. When growing in rice fields it is difficult to distinguish 

 until in flower. Cattle and horses eat the herbage when it is young,, 

 and in some parts of the Central Provinces the seeds are used as human 

 food. Native to India and Africa." 



41919. Themeda quadrivalves (L.) Kuntze. Poaceae. Grass. 

 " A coarse, rather tough annual grass growing in tufts 1 to 3 feet 



high. It is closely related to the kangaroo grass of Australia and Tas- 

 mania. Probably the same as S. P. I. Nos. 13434 and 21637." 



41920. Teach ys muceoxata Pers. Poaceae. Grass. 

 "A perennial grass of sandy land near the seashore, native to southern 



India and Ceylon. The weak sprawling stems root at the nodes." 



41921. Teicholaena rosea Nees. Poaceae. Natal grass. 

 (Paniciim teneriffae P. Br.) 



" When a single plant of Natal grass is allowed abundant room it will 

 form a large tuft, sometimes 3 to 4 feet in diameter. The lower branches 

 soon become decumbent, while the central stems are slender, 3 to 4 feet 

 high, and well covered with leaves, which are so nearly erect that few 

 are lost in mowing the hay. The seeds are produced in large clusters 

 of about the size and shape of a panicle of oats. In most cases the seed 

 clusters are bright red or rosy crimson in color, and for that reason the 

 grass has sometimes been called redtop. It is, however, very different 

 from the common northern grass known as redtop. The name Natal 

 grass, which indicates the country of which it is a native, is more appro- 

 priate and distinctive, and is the one now in most common use. The 

 plants are killed by a single plowing, and by keeping the land cultivated 

 in other crops through the whole of a single season all the seeds in the 

 ground will have germinated and the young plants will be killed by the 

 cultivation, so Natal grass can not become a troublesome weed." 



41922. Rubus sp. Rosaceae. Bramble. 

 From San Francisco, Cal. Presented by Mr. John McLaren, Superintendent 



of Parks and Squares. Received January 21, 1916. 

 Plants of a Rubus apparently not in our collections. 



41923. Ophiopogon japonicus (L.) Ker. Liliacese. 



From Baton Rouge, La. Roots presented by Mr. W. R. Dodson, director,. 

 Agricultural Experiment Station. Received February 14, 1916. 

 A low-growing herbaceous plant, with numerous erect, narrow linear root 

 leaves from one-half to 1 foot long and from one-twelfth to one-eighth inch 

 wide, and racemes of small flowers, varying from white through lilac to violet 

 purple. It is much used in Italy and southern France for green turf and for 

 border edges. It needs no clipping and will stand under the shade of trees, 

 making a dark-green lawn covering, standing well in drought. (Adapted from 

 Bailey, Standard Cyclopedia of HoHiculture, vol. If, p. 2355, 1916.) 



