182 Rhodora [SEPTEMBER 
The lodicules of Danthonia spicata are also of the square-topped 
type. I found flowers open on July 2nd, at 10 A. M. 
When a grass-species begins to bloom, the flowers at the top of 
the panicle open first, but if the spikelets are many-flowered, anthesis 
begins with the lowest flower in each spikelet; when each little mouth 
is closed again, the shrivelled anthers are left outside, so that one can 
usually tell, by looking at a spike or panicle, even if no flowers are 
open, whether the plant is coming into bloom or passing out of bloom. 
On August 14th, I brought home a few young culms of Andropogon 
furcatus; next morning a row of from 4 to 8 little mouths was open in 
the upper part of each spike, a curling stigma protruded on each side, 
and a fringe of pendulous golden anthers (3 from each flower) con- 
trasted with the gray and purple color of the grass. Here again I 
found the flat-topped type of lodicule, the pair meeting in front and 
then each extending back along the side of the ovary. The pollen 
was shaken out between 6 and 8 4. M. I have only seen grass-pollen 
fly in clouds when the grass is touched or jarred,— whether it appears 
in a visible cloud when the grass is blown upon by the wind, I do not 
know. 
Some grasses seem to open all their flowers at once —Deschampsia 
flexuosa, for instance. On July 3rd at 7 a. M. I found a panicle on 
which all but one or two flowers were wide open. I suppose that 
accounts for the species passing by so quickly. Arrhenatherum, of 
which there was an abundance here, this season (1912) also passed 
all too quickly through its blooming period, and so did Calamagrostis 
canadensis, and many other grasses; per contra Glyceria pallida 
has been in bloom 7 weeks already. 
I have examined turgescent lodicules of various species of Panicum, 
e. g., P. latifolium, P. virgatum, P. agrostoides, and P. capillare, and 
find the general plan the same, curving in front, with a flattish top, 
and a projection extending backward on each side of the ovary, part 
of each lodicule being outside the edge of the palet and part inside. 
Kunth describes the lodicules of P. virgatum as follows — “ Squamulae 
duae, late cuneatae, apice oblique truncatae et sinuatae subbilobae 
glabrae, ovario triplo breviores." I found this handsome species at 
Manchester, Mass., not far from the R. R. Station, growing near salt 
water; at noon, Aug. 13th, a warm, sunny day, many flowers were 
open, and on the panicles I took home, I could find a few open flowers 
all through the next day, though the most abundant anthesis was about 
