Monocotyledons with Glumaceous Flowers — Graminece . 
133 
7 * FESTUCEiE. — Spikelets several-flowered, pedicellate. Outer glumes usually shorter than the spikelet. Awns 
when present straight. Examples: Meadow Grass (Pod), Fescue ( Festuccc ), Quaking Grass (Brizd), Cocksfoot 
(■ Dactylis ), Brome Grass ( Bromus ). 
8. Hordeine^e. — S pikelets 1- or few-flowered, sessile in the notches of the axis of a spicate inflorescence. 
Examples : Wheat ( Triticwm ), Rye ( Secede ), Barley (. ffordeum ), Rye Grass ( Lolium), Mat Grass ( Nardus ). 
9. Bambuse^e. Spikelets 1- or several-flowered, often sessile or fascicled. Shrubby or tree-like grasses with 
woody stem. Chiefly tropical. Example : Bamboo ( Bambusa ). 
USES, &c.—‘The Natural Order Gramineae is unquestionably the most important to mankind in the vegetable 
kingdom, furnishing everywhere from the most remote antiquity, in their farinaceous albumen, the chief supply of 
food. 
The principal grain-bearing (cereal) species are : 
Rice (Oryza sativa ). — Supplying the principal food of the native tribes of Tropical Asia and China. It is 
probably of Indian origin, though now cultivated extensively in nearly all hot countries, ranging northward into 
South Europe and the Southern States of North America; some of the finest varieties being produced in the 
Carolina States. The cultivation of Rice in India and China dates from a very remote period. It is said to have 
been introduced into Southern Europe by the Arabs. Nearly seven million cwt. of Rice (not in the husk) were 
imported into the United Kingdom in 1872. 
Indian Corn or Maize (Zee1 Mais ). — Although unknown in the wild state, there can be little doubt of the 
American origin of this species. There does not exist any historical evidence of its having been cultivated in the 
Old World prior to the discovery of the New. At the present period its cultivation, although most extensive in 
America, is general in countries of both hemispheres characterised by warm summer temperature. In the Old 
World the principal cultivation of Maize is in the Indian Archipelago, Northern Africa, and Southern Europe. 
Oranges are imported packed in the broadly-sheathing bract leaves of Maize. 
Rye (Secale cereale ).—Probably originally native of Eastern Europe or of Western Temperate Asia, though 
the form in cultivation has not been satisfactorily identified with any wild species. The culture of Rye is mainly 
confined to Europe, extending northward into the Arctic zone. In England, Norfolk and Suffolk are the chief Rye- 
producing counties. It is also frequently grown as a green crop cut in spring for fodder. 
