142 
GRASSES. 
former a kind of aristocracy, he called grasses, the plebeians of the 
vegetable kingdom. To them, indeed, belong neither brilliancy of 
appearance, nor delicacy of constitution; numerous, humble, and 
rustic, and at the same time giving to man and beast the sustenance 
necessary to preserve life, the grasses may well be compared to the 
unassuming farmer, and mechanic, to whom society is indebted for 
its existence and prosperity, far more than to the idle fop or bluster¬ 
ing politician. 
The grasses are supposed to include nearly one sixth part of the 
whole vegetable world; they cover the earth as with a green carpet, 
and furnish food for man and beast. Some of these, most valuable 
as furnishing food for cattle, are herds-grass, ( Phleum pratense ,) 
meadow-grass, (Poa,) orchard-grass, ( Dactylis ,) and oats. Those 
which are used in various ways as food for man, are wheat, rye, 
barley, and Indian-corn ; the latter botanically called Zea mays , al¬ 
though of the natural family of the grasses, having a culm-like 
stalk, and other distinguishing characteristics of grass-like plants, 
is placed in the class Monoecia, because the stamens and pistils are 
separated in different flowers, growing from the same root. The 
styles, long, slender, and exsertecl , form what is called the silk ; they 
are thus favourably situated for receiving the fertilizing pollen which 
is showered down from the staminate flowers. 
The fruit of corn, wheat, rye, &c., is called grain. Grain, then, 
consists of the seed with its pericarp ; these are not easily distin¬ 
guished from each other till the grain is ground into flour; the pe¬ 
ricarp separating from the seed, then forms what is called the bran ; 
and the seed, the flour or meal. 
The Sugar-cane (Saccharum officinarum )* is of the grass family; 
it is supposed to have been brought from the south of Europe to the 
West Indies. The stem or culm, which- sometimes grows to the 
height of twenty feet, affords the juice from which the sugar is made. 
The Bamboo, (Arundo bambos ,) of the East Indies, a species of 
reed which is said to attain, in some situations, the height of sixty 
feet, is also of this class. 
The Sedge ( Carex ) is a gramineous plant, but it bears staminate 
and pistillate flowers, and is therefore placed in the class Monoecia. 
The carexesj* constitute a very numerous family of plants. 
Fig. 124 represents two 
magnified flowers of the 
orchard grass, ( Dactylis 
glomerata at a, is a 
calyx§ composed of two 
valves ; these are com- 
pressed ,, kee'led\\ acute ; one 
valve is shorter than the 
valves of the flowers, the 
other longer; the calyx is 
common to the two flowers; 
b , shows the valves of the 
* See Appendix, Plate ii. Fig. 2. 
t The plural of carex , according to the Latin termination, is carices. 
Z Glomerata signifies a cluster, alluding to the crowded panicles of flowers. 
§ The parts of the calyx, and also of the corolla, are sometimes called glumes ; they 
are all much alike in appearance, being merely a set of sheaths, for the purpose, of 
protecting the stamens: they are not distinguished by any difference in colour from 
the leaves or stem. The anthers, which are usually yellow, are the only part of the 
flower of the grasses which is coloured. 
Resembling the keel of a boat. 
What did Linnaeus call the grasses ?—'Which are among the most valuable grasses 
for cattle ?—Which for the use of man?—What is said of Indian corn 7—What is 
grain ?—Sugar-cane—Bamboo—Sedge—What does Fig. 124 represent? 
