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all of which are nutritious grasses, but seldom occurring in sufficient 
quantity to be particularly important. (Plate 63.) 
s 
ELEUSINE. 
Spikes two to five or more, finger-like, at the summit of the cnlm, sometimes a few 
scattering ones lower down; spikelets sessile and crowded along one side of the 
rhachis; two to six (ormore)-flowered, the uppermost flowersimperfect or rudinientary ; 
outer glumes membranaceous, shorter than the spikelet; flowering glumes usually 
obtuse ; palet folded, two-keeled. 
Eleusine Indica (Yard Grass; Crow-foot; Crab Grass; Wire Grass). 
The culms are from 1 to 3 feet high, usually coarse and thick, and very ieafy, es- 
pecially below. The leaves are long and rather wide. At the top of the culm there are 
two to five or more thickish densely-flowered spikes proceeding from a common point, 
witb sometimes one or two scattering ones lower down on theclum. The spikelets 
are sessile and crowded along one side of the axis, each being from two to six-flow- 
ered, the upper flower imperfect or rudimentary ; the outer glumes are membranaceous, 
shorter than the flowers, the flowering glumes usually obtuse; the palet folded and 
two-keeled. 
An annual grass belonging to tropical countries, but now naturalized 
in most temperate climates. In the Southern States it. is found in 
every door-yard and in all waste places. 
Professor Phares, of Mississippi, says: 
The clumps have many long leaves and stems rising 1 or 2 feet high, and many 
long, strong, deeply-penetrating, fibrous roots. It grows readily in door-yards, barn- 
yards, and rich, cultivated grounds, and produces an immense quantity of seeds. It is 
a very nutritious grass, and good for grazing, soiling, and hay. The succulent lower 
part of the stems, covered with the sheaths of the leaves, render it difficult to cure 
well, for which several days are required. It may be cut two or three times, and 
yields a large quantity of hay. 
(Plate 64.) 
Bleusine Aigyptiaca (Crow-foot.) 
Two species of grass in the Southern States have received the name 
of crow-foot, viz: Hleusine Indica and Hleusine Aigyptiaca, or, as it is 
sometimes called, Dactyloctenium Algyptiacum. Dr. H. W. Ravenel, of 
Aiken, S.C., states that in the lower and middle portions of that State 
the name of goose grass is generally applied to the former, while the 
latter is universally called crow foot. #. Indica, he says, is confined 
to rich waste places and old yards and gardens, and is rarely or never 
seen in ordinary cultivated fields, and is never used for hay, because 
it is found only in tufts and sparsely, whilst H. dgyptiaca, is as abun-. 
dant as crab grass (Panicum sanguinale) in all cultivated fields, and it 
is commonly used for hay. 
This is an important distinction, which ought to be generally known 
and noticed in our popular account of these grasses. (Plate 65.) 
