V.) 



SEED. 



57 



and, in others, above the uppermost perfect flower of the 

 spikelet, there are one or more empty glumes^ which are called, 

 by some botanists, sterile flowers. Occasionally a staminate 

 flower is borne in the axil of the glume next below or above 

 the perfect flower. Wheat may be thus described : — 



Spikelets sessile, with two outer glumes. 



Flowers with out flowering glu?ne, ovi^ pale, two lodicules. 



Stamens triandrous, hypogynous. 



Pistil syncarpous, ovary superior. 



6. Let us now proceed to review, as before, the Ave 

 plants last examined, viz., Colocasia, Dendrobe, Crinum, 

 Dracaena, and Wheat. 



They all happen to be herbaceous plants. The leaves 

 excepting in Colocasia, although narrowed below more or less, 

 do not present an abrupt distinction of petiole and blade, 

 and, with the same exception, the veins of the leaves are 

 parallel and not irregularly netted. Those which have the 

 essential organs of the flower enclosed in a perianth have 

 the leaves which compose it arranged in two whorls (corre- 

 sponding to calyx and corolla respectively) of three each. 

 We find our plants generally marked by (i) the absence of 

 any abrupt distinction between blade and 

 petiole ; (2) parallel-veined leaves ; and (3) 

 the parts of the flowers in threes. 



7. We must now soak a few grains of 

 Wheat for comparison with the seeds of 

 Dicotyledons. We must, however, be care- 

 ful not to regard the grain of Wheat as 

 a seed corresponding to that of the Pea 

 or Orange, for it is a fruit consisting of 

 pericarp (ovary) and seed ; the pericarp 

 being closely adherent to the true seed. 



Fig. 41. Longitudi- 

 nal section of a 

 Grain of Wheat. 

 The embryo is re- 

 presented at the 

 base of the Seed. 



In the Crinum, 



i 



