GRAMINE^fl. 



943 



Among the exotic genera occasionally cultivated in our fields or 

 gardens may be mentioned Rye (Secale cereale), the Maize or Indian 

 Corn {Zea Mays), and the Feather- grass (Stipa pennata). The latter 

 plant, a native of southern Europe, has by some mistake been inserted 

 in some British Moras as having been found in Westmoreland. 



I. LEEESIA. LEERSIA. 



Spikelets loosely panicled, 1-flowered, flat, consisting of only 2 glumes, 

 both of them keeled, without any inner 2-nerved palea. Stamens in 

 the British species 3, in most exotic ones 6, 2, or 1. 



A small genus, chiefly American, with 2 or 3 of the species spread 

 over the warmer regions of the old world and Australia. It is doubt- 

 ful whether in this and other genera of Oryzece the inner glume should 

 be considered as an anomalous palea, or as the flowering glume without 

 any palea. 



1. Common Leersia. Leersia oryzoides, Sw. (Fig. 1140.) 

 (Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2908.) 



Stems about 2 feet high, the leaves, 

 especially their sheaths, very rough. 

 Panicle, when fully developed, loosely 

 branched, spreading, 6 or 8 inches long, 

 but in the British specimens usually 

 much shorter, and partially included in 

 the sheath of the last leaf. Spikelets 

 numerous, all turning in one direction, 

 2 to nearly 3 lines long ; the first glume 

 rather broad, with 2 nerves on each side 

 of the keel ; the second much narrower, 

 with 1 faint nerve on each side. 



In wet places, ditches, and marshes, 

 common in North America, extending 

 over a great part of Asia, and more 

 sparingly across central Europe to north- 

 ern Italy, France, and Denmark. In 

 Britain, only recently discovered in 

 Hampshire, Sussex, and Surrey. Fl. 

 autumn. 



Fig. 1140. 



II. MILIUM. MILIUM. ' 



Spikelets loosely panicled, 1-flowered, without awns. Empty glumes 



