The Blooming of Timothy. 131 



remained. Three of these soon perished, so that the spring of 

 I'JIO found but one survivor, that of a type represented by fig. 

 1, No. Ill (vSee also fig 8, Thk Plaxt World, Feb. 1907). This 

 remaining indi\ idual did not live through the dry fore-summer. 

 The anah sis of the observations shows that the leaves supposed- 

 ly embodying (lualities of the red oak were least fitted to endure 

 the desiccating action of the desert, which was endured longer 

 by the narrower more indurated leaves resembling those of the 

 willow-leaved cak. A jihysiological consideration of the lca\ es 

 of these types would liave led to the expectation of such a result. 

 The suggesti ui lies near that the action of the climate observed 

 with these plants is one representative of countless occurrences 

 in nature. A linear series from the ])rogenv described nl)f)\p 

 was also established in the New York Botanical Ciardcn, but no 

 report has yet been made as to their action cr survival. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE BLOOMING OF TIMOTHY. 



Charles F. Clark. 



The flowers of timoth\-, like those of the majority of other 

 grasses, are so small and inconspicuous that they rarely receive 

 the attention given to more conspicucous floral organs. The 

 observations described in the following pages were made by the 

 writer in connection with the timothy breeding experiments 

 which are in progress at the Cornell University Experiment 

 Station and are being published with the hope that they may 

 be of some scientific interest. 



The llowers of timothy are borne on a so-called head or 

 spike which is in reality a contracted panicle in which the 

 rachillae are much reduced, giving the inflorescence a spike- 

 like appearance. Each flower, which with its two inclosing 

 outer glumes comprises a s])ikelet, consists of a flowering glume, 

 a palea, an o\ar\', two distinct st\ les with plumose stigmas, and 

 three stamens. ' 



The process of blooming is simply a pushing out/df the 

 stamens and stigmas, there being no distinct openinglof Jthe fl<i)W- 



