GLUMIPLOEJl. 



289 



288 -D, 291), outside the endosperm ; plumule large with several 

 leaf-primordia. On germination the cotyledon remains in the seed. 

 The majority of Grasses are annual or perennial herbs ; tree- 

 like forms being only found in the Tropics, for example, the 

 Bamboos; they branch (in tufts), especially from the axils of the 

 basal-leaves, while those which are borne higher on the stem are 

 separated by longer internodes and have no vegetative branches in 



Fto. 289. Diagramatic outline of 

 a spikelet : n Y lower glume ; o Y 

 upper glume ; n I upper pale ; o I 

 the inner pale; I-Z lodicules ; s-t 

 stamens; I-I main axes; II lateral 

 axes. 



FIG. 283. B co in us moIUs : A inflorescence ; 

 B the uppermost flower of a spikelet, with 

 its axis turned forward ; in front is seen the 

 two-keeled inner pale (bracteole) and the 

 stamens protrude between this and the outer 

 pale (.bract) ; C a.n ovary with the 2 stigmas 

 oil its anterior side, the 2 lodicules, and the 

 3 stamens ; D the fruit seen from the dorsal 

 side; E the same from the ventral side. 



their axils, though a few forms, like Bambusa and Calamagrostis 

 lanceolate^ produce branches in these axils. 



Only a few Grasses have a solid stem, such as Maize, Sugar-cane, and Andro- 

 pogon. The blade is flat in the meadow-grasses, but the Grasses which live on 

 dry places (" prairie-grass ") exposed to the sun, often have the blade tightly 

 W. B. U 



