SPERM A TOPHYTA 407 



nous but, in one family, are epigynous. The stamens range from indef- 

 inite to definite in number, the pistils from apocarpy to syncarpy. The 

 numerous stamens and apocarpous pistils suggest a relationship to the 

 Ranales. 



Glumales. The Glumales include the Cyperaceae, or sedges, and the 

 Gramineae, or grasses, together numbering about 8,000 species. The 

 flowers are surrounded by scale-like bracts, called glumes, the perianth 

 being either wanting or represented by minute scales. The flowers, which 

 are mainly perfect, have six stamens or less (mostly three), and a uniloc- 

 ular ovary with a single ovule. The pistil, commonly said to consist of a 

 single carpel, really is formed of three completely united carpels. All 

 members are hypogynous. There is much evidence indicating that the 

 Glumales are not primitive but reduced from lily-like ancestors. 



Palmales. This order includes only the Palmaceae, with about 1,200 

 species, mostly of tropical and subtropical trees. The flowers are small, 

 mostly imperfect, and borne in a massive inflorescence at first surrounded 

 by a large sheathing bract. The presence of a perianth is a constant fea- 

 ture of the group ; it is inconspicuous and composed of two similar whorls 

 of three members each. The flowers are mostly trimerous, hypogynous, 

 and mostly syncarpous. They commonly have six stamens (often more) 

 and three carpels. 



Arales. This order, of about 1,500 species, comprises 2 families of 

 herbs, the principal one being the Araceae. Most of its members are 

 tropical, some familiar ones being jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema), calla lily 

 (Z anted eschia), and elephant's-ear {Calocasia). The flowers, which are 

 small and inconspicuous, are borne on a fleshy axis, the spadix, surrounded 

 by a conspicuous bract, the spathe. They are perfect or imperfect, hypog- 

 ynous, and syncarpous. A simple scale-like perianth is sometimes pres- 

 ent, its absence in most forms being a result of reduction. The number of 

 stamens and carpels, although variable, is small. 



The preceding orders constitute the spiral series of Monocotyledoneae. 

 They are characterized, for the most part, by fluctuating numbers of floral 

 parts, a simple perianth or none, apocarpy, and the development of 

 sheathing bracts. In the Glumales the bracts appear in connection 

 with the individual flowers, in the other orders, in connection with the 

 inflorescence. 



The following orders constitute the cyclic series of Monocotyledoneae. 

 Here the flowers are typicaUy trimerous, pentacyclic, and syncarpous. 

 The perianth consists of a distinct calyx and corolla. In a relatively few 

 members the perianth parts are more or less united; otherwise they are 

 separate. 



Farinales. The Farinales comprise an order of about 2,500 species of 

 mostly grass-like herbs distributed into 13 families. The most familiar 



