WHEAT GRASS. 



37 



at once, and to lay them in some waste corner, where they 

 may be burned at leisure, or mixed and prepared in compost 

 by a lengthened inspection. 



31. The " Wheat grass," or the " Triticum " of botany, is a 

 most pernicious weed. The plant belongs to the class and 

 order " Triandria digynia" of Linneus, and the natural order 

 " Gramineae " of Jussieu. 



Generic character. — Calyx, a common receptacle elongated 

 into a spike ; glume two-valved, sub-triflorous valves ; ovate, 

 bluntish, concave. Corolla two-valved, nearly equal, size of 

 the calyx ; exterior valve ventricose, blunt with a point ; in- 

 terior valve flat. Nectary two-leaved ; leaflets acute, gibbous 

 at the base. Stamina: filaments three, capillary; anthers 

 oblong, forked. Pistil : germ turbinate ; styles two, capil- 

 lary reflexed; stigmas feathered. Pericarp none. Corolla 

 fosters the seed, opens and drops it. Seed one, ovate oblong, 

 blunt at both ends, convex on one side, grooved on the 

 other. 



Essential character, — Calyx two-valved, solitary, sub- 

 triflorous, or many-flowered, on a flexuose toothed rachis. 

 Corolla blunt, with a point. 



This genus comprehends all the varieties of the cultivated 

 wheats, and the annual and permanent wheat grasses. The 

 species we now mention as a weed, is the " Triticum repens " 

 of botany, or the creeping wheat grass, and known by differ- 

 ent names, as quick, quitch, twitch, couch, or dogs' grass, are 

 evidently derived from quick, which signifies "living," in 

 allusion to the very vivacious nature of the root. Calyx awl- 

 shaped, many-ribbed, five-flowered. Florets pointed. Leaves 

 flat. Root creeping. Flowers in summer and autumn. 



The roots have been dried and ground into meal, and made 

 into bread in years of scarcity. The taste of the dried roots is 

 sweet, and they are sold as food for horses ; cows, sheep, and 

 goats also eat them. Dogs eat the leaves to excite vomiting. 

 The stems are two feet high, slender. Herbage green. 



The long and deeply creeping roots are of all weeds the 

 most difficult to extirpate. The root is regularly jointed, and 

 from each joint the shoots proceed, which throw up the 



