Nov., 1910.] Some Economic Monocotyls of Ohio. 
2I 5 
anthum odoratum gives a fine sweet scent to new hay, and the 
large seeds of Milium effusum furnish a fine food for pheasants. 
Ammophila arenaria is used to bind the sand on the sea and 
lake shores. In England this grass is used for mats and basket 
work, thatching material, and its fiber for making paper, 
mattings, and agricultural tie bands. The fiber is not used to 
any extent in the United States. The fiber of Sporobolus crypt- 
andrus is rather too short to be woven but is used to some 
extent for tying. Mats and baskets are made from Cynosurus 
cristatus by the peasantry of Ireland. This grass is just being 
naturalized in Ohio. The species of Festuca are valuable meadow 
grasses, and the same is true for Lolium percnne. The seeds of 
Loliu n tenulentum, sometimes found in wheat, produces poison- 
ous effects on the system, such as headache, drowsiness and 
vertigo, if ground in the flour. Agropvron repens furnishes a 
poor pasture grass but if cut when young gives a fairly good fod- 
der. It is used to fasten sand on river banks. The juicy rhizomes 
and runners are nourishing food for cattle and contain three per 
cent of sugar, six to eight per cent triticum, a gummy carbo- 
hydrate, and arc officially known as radix graminis. The extract 
acts as a solvent upon collections of mucous of the intestinal 
membranes, and in affections of the intestinal canal. A syrup 
and even an alcohol is made from it. 
The entire stems of Scirpus lacustris one of the Cyperaceae are 
used for mats and mattings and to make baskets, bee hives and 
horse collars. Shoes arc made from the plant in England and it is 
used in Den nark when thrashing buckwheat to prevent crushing 
the grain. The fiber of Eriophorum polystachyon furnishes material 
from which paper and clothing arc made and Eleocharis palustris 
is especially valued in Holland for making beautiful matting. 
Several species of the Araceae are also important. The conns 
of Arisaema triphyllum are used as a stimulant, diaphoretic, 
expectorant and irritant, while Spathyema foetida is administered 
in affections of the respiratory organs, in nervous disorders, 
rheumatism and dropsical complaints. The dried roots of Acorus 
calamus are frequently chewed for the relief of dyspepsia and as 
a stimulant in feeble digestion. 
The different species of Lemnaceac are said to purify water. 
They furnish food for water birds and fishes, being especially good 
for gold fish. 
The Juncaceae include important fiber plants and also excel- 
lent paper stock. The fiber of some species is said to make a 
good substitute for human hair. The fiber of juncus effusus is 
employed in making chair bottoms and baskets, while the pith 
makes a good substitute for candles. J. balticus is used for 
weaving mats and light baskets. 
