S partina. Schreb. 3. 1. Rough Grass.
Three species, cynosuroides, W., glabra, Muhl., and juncea,
W., are in this State ; coarse and rough grasses, somewhat sedge-
lihe, about marshes ; all in the vicinity of Boston. Two of the
species are large, 3 — 5 feet high.
Z izania. L. 19. 1.
Derived from a Greek name of another and very different
plant. This is a native of America, and found about all the
northern Lakes.
Glume none ; seed 1, enveloped in the plaited paleae.
Z. aquatica. Lamb. Water Oats. Wild Rice. Culm
4 - 6 feet high, jointed, large, with a wide-spreading panicle of
flowers_tapering to the apex, and large leaves ; seeds half an inch
long, smooth and blackish, abundant, and resembling rice in their
properties, as they form fine flour. It is suggested by Dr- Bigelow,
that it might be profitably cultivated to render “ large tracts
of inundated ground and stagnant' water ” useful, as horses are
fond of it, and as it yields an abundant crop. The seeds are
collected and eaten by the Indians around the great Lakes ; and,
though they are the most valuable part ■ of the plant, they fall off
early and easily, so as to render it difficult to collect them.
Pinkerton says, “ this plant seems intended by nature to become
the bread-corn of the north.” Loudon. The plant has been introduced
into England, and grows, as in this country, around
ponds.
In the eastern part of this State, it grows on the sides of ponds
and slow streams. Big. It must of course form valuable food
for the wild geese, and many other animals at the North.
Milijljm. L. 3. 2.
M . pmgens. Torrey. This is the Dwarf Millet Grass, to
he added to those in the “ Geology.”
Erect, slender, 1 2 -1 8 inches high, simple, stiff; radical leaves
6 - 8 inches long, a line wide, acute ; panicle few-flowered. The
glumes are 2, beardless ; inner chaff oblong, shorter than the
glume, awnless.
Grows about Deerfield on dry hills, and in the vicinity of Boston
; May.
L eersia. Sw. 3. 2. Cut Grass.
Named after the botanist Leers. L . oryzoides, Sw., and L.
Virginiea, W., are both indigenous to this country, and one of
the two is found also in the Levant. The two species are found in
ditches and about wet places by sluggish waters ; grow 2 or more
feet high, with a light-green stem, and yellowish-white flowers,
which have only one floral envelope ; leaves rough backwards, especially
on one of the species, so as to convince one of the appropriate
name, cut-grass ; common, hut not abundant.
Oryzopsis. Mx. 3. 2. Mountain Rice.
Named from the resemblance of the seeds to rice, the name of
which is Oryza.
O. asperifolia. Mx. Found in woods in light soil, I —2 feet
high, with long, deep-green leaves at the root, erect and stiff, and
green through the winter ; panicle simple, flexuous ; seed white,
about as large as rice, and farinaceous ; April and May.
Whether it will be profitable for cultivation, as Pursh proposed,
on account of its fine white flour, can be ascertained only by trial.
P iptatherum. Beauv. 3. 2.
This was taken from the last, which it resembles considerably,
P. nigrum. Torrey. Blackseeded Millet Grass. Flowers
in a simple panicle, rather racemed ; inner chaff black and hairy,
with a long awn ; 2 - 3 feet high ; leaves, long, linear ^lanceolate ;
few-flowered ; seed black, a little larger than the rice.
L olium. L. 3. 2.
From the Celtic name of the plant. Loudon. Glume 1-valved
to the lower fruit, and 2-valved to the upper ; lower palea with a
bristle or awn at the end ; scales with 2 unequal teeth.
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