172 The Roots of the Wheat Plant. 



35. Lolium — spikelets (?.) alternate, not transverse, each with a single glume, 

 •ft Flowers paniculate, jjanicle more or less lax. 



37. Poa — panicle lax, glumes unequal valves, the inner glumel notched at the 



extremity. 



38. Briza — panicle lax, glumes equal, tumid. 



39. Dactylis — panicle somewhat compact, glumes pointed, gluraels awnless. 



40. Festuca — panicle lax, glumes finely pointed, glumel with a short a-mi. 



41. Bromus — panicle lax, glumes more or less rounded, outer glumel with a 



long awn, inner one edged with fine hairs. 



42. Avena — panicle more or less lax, glumes thin, transparent membrane, 



glumels adherent to the seed. 



43. Phragmites — panicle more or less compact, glumes and gli\mels finely 



pointed, the latter very imequal. 



Now, in the foregoing Table, ^e have arranged 43 genera, 

 which will be found to include about 125 species. Of these 

 however only about 20 genera, containing not more than 40 

 species, will be found to possess any particular interest in an 

 agricultural point of view ; only these therefore will be fully 

 described in our forthcoming paper, and their properties and 

 capabilities pointed out, whilst sufficient reference will be made 

 to the remaining species to enable the student to refer them to 

 their proper places. 



Cirencester, March, 1856. 



y\\.—On the Roots of the Wheat Plant. By James Buckman, 

 F.G.S., F.L.S., Professor of Geology and Botany in the Royal 

 Agricultural College. 



Prize Essay. 



Wheat and all our cereals belong to that division of the endoge- 

 nous or monocotyledonous class, which, from their glumes or chaff 

 scales, have received the name oi gliimales. This class is distin- 

 guished by endogenous stems, non-separable bark, parallel-veined 

 leaves, and an ovary of a single cotyledon. 



The natural order includes the carex or sedge family {cyper- 

 acece) ; but the grass family {graminacea) is distinguished as 

 follows : — 



1. Graminacece. — Evergreen herbs, Avith cylindrical and usu- 

 ally fistular stems closed at the joints. The stems are covered 

 with a coat of silex and are sometimes solid. Leaves narrow, 

 undivided, with a split sheath, and a membranous expansion 

 {ligule) starting alternately from the joints {nodes). 



2. Cy2)erace(B. — Grasslike herbs, with solid stems, seldom with 

 partitions at their nodes, frequently angular. Leaves narrow, un- 

 divided, and when wrapping round the stem it is with a tubular 

 and not a split sheath. 



