AFFECTING THE GENUS LOLIUM. 123 
The union sometimes extends also to the inner palee ; and in 
one case the inner pales of three florets were united together. 
Within the palee may here and there be found a perfect flower ; 
but more usually there are a number of scales, the outer ones 
palea-like, often twisted spiraly, and hooked at the summit; 
the sueceeding ones exhibit various intermediate conditions be- 
tween that of palea and that of stamens, while the central ones 
are merely rudimentary scales. The lodicles are not distinguish- 
able from these latter; and, contrary to what happens in the 
second series of specimens now described, in the present instance 
there is no trace of pistil, except in the case immediately to be 
described. In addition to the changes just mentioned, the axis 
of the spikelet just within the outer glumes occasionally divides 
into two diverging branches, each bearing its tuft of florets 
(fig. 2). In the fork between the two branches is placed in some, 
Fig. 2. 
Branching of axis of spikelet within the outer glumes. 
but not in all, a single floret, which thus terminates the main axis 
of the spikelet, after the fashion followed in a dichotomous cyme. 
The component parts of this floret are arranged after a different 
method from the ordinary one (fig. 2a). The outer whorl consists 
Fig. 2 a. 
Central, terminal floret, and plan of the same. 
