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ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.
Order 7. Gramin'ea:, R. Brown .— The Grass Tribe.
(Gramina, Juss. Graminaceae , Lind.)
Essential Character.— Flowers usually hermaphrodite, sometimes monoecious. otpolygamous ; consisting of imbricated bracts, of which the most exterior are calle ^glumes, the interior immediately enclosing the stamenspalece, and the innermost at the base of the ovariumscales. Glumes usually two, alternate; sometimessingle; most commonly unequal. Palece two, alternate,the lower or exterior, simple; the upper or interior com'posed of two, united by their contiguous margins, anuusually with two keels—together forming a kind of dis-located calyx. Scales two or three, sometimes wanting*if two, collateral, alternate with the paleae, and next thelower of them, either distinct or united. Stamens hypog.V"nous, one, two, three, four, six, or more, one of which al-ternates with the two hypogynous scales, and is, there-fore, next the lower palea; anthers versatile. Ovary sim-ple ; styles two, very rarely one or three ; stigmas featheryor hairy. Pericarp usually undistinguishable from theseed, membranous. Albumen farinaceous; embryo lyij 1 **on one side of the albumen at the base, lenticular, witha broad cotyledon and a developed plumule; and occa-sionally, but very rarely, with a second cotyledon o»the outside of the plumule, and alternate with the usualcotyledon. Rhizoma fibrous or bulbous. Culms cylin-drical, usually fistular, closed at the joints, coveredwith a coat of silex. Leaves alternate, with a splbsheath. Flowers in little spikes, called loeustee, arrangedin a spiked, racemed, or panicled manner ( Lindley)■Properties. —Almost every species is esculent andsalubrious. The nutritive property is especially re "markable in the seeds of grasses, which contain starch,gluten, gum, anil sugar. The stems and leaves also con-tain sugar, mucilage, and starch. Cane-sugar is procured from the stem of a grass. Bothstems and leaves are used as food for cattle. Even the subterraneous stems and roots otsome species (as Triticum repens and Cynodon Dactylon) abound in these principle® -Considered in a medicinal point of view, the products of the grasses are emollient anddemulcent.
To these statements there are a few exceptions, some of which have been alreadynoticed (p. 3).
Odorous volatile oil is found in some species; as in Anthoxanthum odoratum ; Andro-pogon muricatus, the fibrous roots of which are sold by perfumers under the Tamoolname of Vittic Vayr ; Andropogon Schwnanthus, which yields the oil of lemon-grass;and Andropogon Calamus aromaticus, Royle (A. nardoides, Nees ab Esenb.), from whichthe grass-oil of Namur is obtained (Boyle’s Essay on the Antiq. of Hindoo Med. p. 34).
Sac'charum Officina'rum , Linn. E. D. (S. officinale, L.) —The Sugar Cane.
Sex. Syst. Triandria, Digynia.
(Sacchari fex; Saccharum: Succus prseparatus, Ph . Land. Succus concretus, a. non purificatus, b. puri-ficatus ; Syrupus empyreumaticus, anglice molasses , Ph. Dub. Saccharum non purincatum; Saccharun 1purissimum; Syrupus empyreumaticus, Ph . Ed.)
History - . —The manufacture of sugar is said by Humboldt to be ofthe highest antiquity in China . Cane sugar was known to the ancientGreeks and Romans, and was considered by them to be a kind of honey-Possibly, Herodotus ( Melpomene , cxciv.) refers to it when he says thatthe Zygantes make honey in addition to that w T hicli they get from bees-Theophrastus ( De Melle) calls it mel in arundinibus ; Dioscorides (lib-ii. cap. civ.) o-dc^opoc ; Pliny (Hist. Nat. lib. xii. cap. xvii) saccharum-Humboldt ( Journ of Science and Arts, vol. v. p. 51) adopts too hastily* 1
Fig. 86.
Ii! Fit 4
Flowers of Grasses.