586 
MONOECl A TRIANDRIA. 
Walt. p. 233. Pursh, 1. p. 60. Nutt. 2. p. 210, 
Z. Palustris, Sp. pi. 4. p. 395. 
Z. Clavulosa, Mich. 1. p. 75. 
Root perennial. Stem 6 — 12 feet high, terete, glabrous, polished, encir- 
cled at the joints with a silken pubescence. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, 
slightly channelled, finely serrulate, glabrous on both surfaces, of a light 
green colour, 2 — 4 feet long, one to one and a half inches wide, closely 
sheathing at base, the sheaths shorter than the internodes. Flowers in p. 
large terminal panicle, the branches verticillate, the lower expanding, bear- 
ing sterile florets, the upper somewhat erect, the florets all fertile, on short 
incrassated pedicels; of the sterile floret glume 2-valved, valves equal, cili- 
ate along the back and margins; nectary 2 very small lanceolate mem- 
branes at the base of the filaments; filaments 6, short; anthers oblong; the 
sterile flower pendulous caducous. Of the fertile floret glume 2-valved, 
valves unequal, the exterior linear-lanceolate, tapering to a bristle nearly 2 
inches long, ciliate; the interior smaller, very acute; nectary as in the sterile 
floret; germ short, oval. Styles 2, short. Seed oblong. 
This grass grows in great abundance near the mouths of our fresh water 
rivers. It constitutes a considerable portion of the fresh water marshes} 
preferring those situations where the soil is overflowed one or two feet deep 
at high water. Its leaves are succulent and eaten with avidity by stock of 
all descriptions. In Savannah, under the name of wild oats, it is used almost 
exclusively during the summer season as green fodder for their cows and 
horses. It is said not to make good hay, but I suspect it has not been fairly 
tried; perhaps the experiments have been made on leaves or plants not 
sufficiently mature. The seed are more saccharine than those of any other 
of the graminese which I have ever tasted, but they are also the most cadu- 
cous. 
Flowers October and November. 
§ 2. Miliacea. Mich. 
Z. panicula effusa, 
pyramidata; glumis 
brevi-aristatis; floribus 
masculis et foemineis 
mixtis; stylo 1; semine 
ovato, laevi; foliis pe- 
rennantibus glauces- 
centibus. 
Mich. L p. 74. Sp. pi. 4. p. 394, Pursh, !'. p. 60. Nutt. 2. p. 
Z. Palustris, Walt. p. 233. 
Z. Aquatico, Sp. pi. 4. p. 394? 
Stem erect, 6 — 10 feet high, terete, glabrous, even at the joints. Leaves 
" -6 feet long, one to one and a half inches wide., flat, striate, serrnlalfy 
Panicle expanding,- 
pyramidal; glumes with 
short awns: florets ste- 
rile and fertile inter- 
mingled; style 1; seed 
ovate, smooth; leaves 
perennial, glaucescent. 
