ENDOGENOUS OR MONOCOTYLKDONOUS PLANTS. 



497 



was made from the stems of Cypei-us Papyrus. The tubers of 

 C. esculentus are sweet and edible, but are too small to be of much 

 value for food. 



1263 



1260 



1263 



1264 



1261 



1258 



960. Ord. GramineSB ( Grass Family). Stems {culms) cylindrical, 

 mostly hollow, and closed at the nodes. Sheaths of the leaves split 

 or open. Flowers in little spikelets, consisting of two-ranked imbri- 

 cated bracts ; of which the exterior are called glumes, and the two 

 that immediately enclose each flower, palece. Perianth none, or in 

 the form of y©iy small and membranous hypogynous scales, from 

 one to three in number, distinct or united (termed squamulce, squa- 

 mellae, or lodiculce). Stamens commonly three: anthers versatile. 

 Styles or stigmas two ; the latter feathery. Fruit a caryopsis. 

 Embryo situated on the outside of the farinaceous albumen, next the 



FIG. 1258. Scirpus triqueter, with its cluster of spikelets. 1259. A separate flower, en- 

 larged, showing its rudimentary perianth of a few denticulate bristles, its three stamens, and 

 pistil with a three-cleft style : a, section of the seed, showing the minute embryo. 1260. Ca- 

 rex Careyana, reduced in size (flowers moncecious, the two kinds in different spikes). 1261. 

 Stem, with the staminate and upper pistillate spike, of the size of nature. 1262. A scale of 

 the staminate spike, with the flower (consisting merely of three stamens) in its axil. 1263. 

 Magnified pistillate flower, with its scale or bftict : the ovary enclosed in a kind of sac (perigy- 

 «(«»!), formed by the union of two bractlets. 1264. Cross-section of the perigynium ; with 

 the pistil, p, removed. 1265. Vertical section of the achenium, showing the seed. 



42* 



