Abstract
THIS is an atlas of forty plates, the representations in which are most natural and life-like, the characteristic habit of each species being effectively shown. About half the plates are accompanied by diagrams of the spikelets or florets. Of the 40 selected species, 7 belong to Andropogon, 7 to Panicum, 3 to Eleusine, 3 to Eragrostis, and 2 each to Aristida, Cenchrus, and Paspalum. The 14 remaining genera, represented each by 1 species, include, amongst others, Saccharum, Setaria, Sorghum, and Sporobolus. All the species shown are extra-British, excepting Cynodon Dactylon, Pers. [and Panicum Crus-Galli, L.]. Of these grasses none perhaps is of greater current interest than Sorghum halepense, Pers., known amongst English-speaking peoples as “Johnson grass,” respecting the drought-withstanding capacity of which very favourable reports continue to be received from Australia and from the Western United States. Mr. J. F. Duthie, under whose careful supervision the work has been published, states in a short introduction that “the increasing demand for reliable information concerning the various grasses used in this country, either as fodder or forage, has induced me to collect materials for the preparation of a work embodying all the available information on this very important subject.” This admirable atlas is a contribution in the direction indicated, and the descriptive letterpress, which Mr. Duthie promises to have ready by next cold season, will be welcomed by those—and their number is rapidly increasing—who are interested in the economic study of the Gramineæ.
Illustrations of the Indigenous Fodder Grasses of the Plains of North-Western India.
(Roorkee: Nature-printed at the Thomason Civil Engineering College Press, 1886.)
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FREAM, W. Our Book Shelf . Nature 34, 494 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/034494a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/034494a0