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A loose panicle, the axis of which falls to pieces, as in certain grasses.

rst of June. The larvæ of the June beetles live under ground, and feed upon the roots of grasses and other plants. Called also May bug or May beetle. -- June grass (Bot.), a New England name for Kentucky blue grass. See Blue glass, and Illustration in Appendix.

A dense growth of brushwood, grasses, reeds, vines, etc.; an almost impenetrable thicket of trees, canes, and reedy vegetation, as in India, Africa, Australia, and Brazil. The jungles of India are of bamboos, canes, and other palms, very difficult to penetrate. Balfour (Cyc. of India). Jungle bear (Zoöl.), the aswail o…

A genus of marine fishes, including the wrasses of Europe. See Wrasse.

Pecuniarily embarrassed through owning much unprofitable land. [Colloq.]

Free; unembarrassed. [Obs.] Of burdens all he set the Paynims large. Fairfax.

Not encumbered; unembarrassed; clear of impediments; hence, active; nimble; swift. Unmarried men are best friends, best masters . . . but not always best subjects, for they are light to run away. Bacon.

The spikelet or flower cluster of grasses. Gray.

One of the two or three delicate membranous scales which are next to the stamens in grasses.

g place to another; military progress; advance of troops. These troops came to the army harassed with a long and wearisome march. Bacon.

- Marsh gas. (Chem.) See under Gas. -- Marsh grass (Bot.), a genus (Spartina) of coarse grasses growing in marshes; -- called also cord grass. The tall S. cynosuroides is not good for hay unless cut very young. The low S. juncea is a common component of salt hay. -- Marsh harrier (Zoöl.), a European hawk or harrier (…

A name of several maritime grasses, as the sea sand-reed (Ammophila arundinacea) which is used in Holland to bind the sand of the seacoast dikes (see Beach grass, under Beach); also, the Lygeum Spartum, a Mediterranean grass of similar habit.

A genus of grasses (Melica) of little agricultural importance.

The name of several cereal and forage grasses which bear an abundance of small roundish grains. The common millets of Germany and Southern Europe are Panicum miliaceum, and Setaria Italica.

Arranged in a single row on one side of an axis, as the flowers in grasses of the tribe Chloridæ.

rigation, in some parts of Asia, Europe, and the United States. (b) An American genus of grasses (Oryzopsis). -- Mountain rose (Bot.), a species of rose with solitary flowers, growing in the mountains of Europe (Rosa alpina). -- Mountain soap (Min.), a soft earthy mineral, of a brownish color, used in crayon painting…

Shaped like a boat; cymbiform; scaphoid; as, the navicular glumes of most grasses; the navicular bone. Navicular bone. (Anat.) (a) One of the middle bones of the tarsus, corresponding to the centrale; -- called also scaphoid. (b) A proximal bone on the radial side of the carpus; the scaphoid. -- Navicular disease (Far…

One who oppresses; one who imposes unjust burdens on others; one who harasses others with unjust laws or unreasonable severity. The orphan pines while the oppressor feeds. Shak. To relieve the oppressed and to punish the oppressor. Swift.

A genus of grasses including the rice plant; rice.

The interior chaff or husk of grasses.