6 



rarely tLere is a third lodicule betweea tlie tiower and tlae palea; 

 stamens, nsnally tliree (rarely two or one, or more than three) 

 with very slender filaments and two-celled, usually versatile 

 anthers ; ])istil with a one-celled, one-ovuled ovary, and one to 

 three, usually two, styles with variously branched, most fre- 

 quently plumose, stigmas; embryo small, lying at the front and 

 base of the seed, covered only by the thin pericarp; fruit a 

 caryopsis, rich in albumen. (In Sporobohis and Elensine the thin 

 pericarp is free from the seed.) 



Xumher of species. — There are about thirty-five huudred 

 known species of grasses, varying iu size from the moss- 

 like CoJeanthus of the Xorth to the tree-like bamboos of 

 the Tropics, which tower to the height of 30 m. or more; 

 and ranging in distribution from Kerguelen Land on 

 the South to the extreme limit of vegetation beyond the 

 Arctic Circle. There is no order of plants more widely 

 distributed, or existing under a greater diversity of soil 

 and climate, and no other order presents such a vast 

 number of individual i)lants or is so important and 

 directly useful to man. 



Series A. — Panicace^. 



Spikelets one- rarely two-flowered ; when two-flowered 

 the second or terminal one is perfect, the first or lower 

 one being either staminate or neuter; rachilla articu- 

 lated below the empty glumes, the spikelets falling from 

 the pedicels entire, either singly, in groups, or together 

 with the Joints of an articulate rachis. The first six 

 tribes belong to this series. 



Tribe I. — Maydea'. 



Spikelets unisexual, the staminate forming a part of the iutio- 

 rescence with the pistillate, or each in a separate inflorescence on 

 the same ])lant ; tlowerinii jilnmes hyaline or much less firm 

 in texture than the outer ones; axis of the female spikelets 

 usually articulated. 



