i8o Plants and their Ways in South Africa 



branched nor feathery. When the seed is shed, the spikelets in some 

 genera break off just above the empty glumes, sometimes below them. 



Tricholsena is a beautiful grass with soft silky glumes. 

 In Trichol<B7ia rosea the glumes are rose-coloured. 



Phragmites communis is a common reed used for 

 thatching. 



Coix lachryma is a curious but pretty grass. The 

 pistillate flowers are enclosed in a hard bony covering. The 

 flowers containing stamens are borne on a stalk up through an 

 opening in the top of this bead-like involucre. The popular 

 name of this grass is " Job's Tears." 



Order Restiace^. 



This order is frequently confused with the grasses. A 

 comparison of the two will show how they differ. 



Restiacece. GraminacecR. 



Flowers dioecious. Flowers perfect or monoe- 

 cious. 



Perianth of 6 glumes in two Perianth of two or three 



whorls lodicules. 



Anthers i -celled. Anthers 2-celled. 



Ovary i to 3-celled, dehiscent Ovary i -celled, indehiscent. 



or indehiscent. 



Both grasses and Restiacese have leaves with split sheathes. 

 The blade of the leaf in Restiaceae usually falls, leaving the 

 sheath. 



The Restiaceae are much more difficult to determine than 

 the grasses or sedges, as the different species grow intermingled 

 on the veld, and it is difficult to determine which staminate 

 plants fertilize a given pistillate form. To add to the difficulty, 

 the inflorescences are different in the pistillate and staminate 

 flowers of the same species. 



Like the rushes, they grow most Kixuriantly in moist places, especially 

 along the rivers' edge, where they reach a height of 6 to 10 feet. The 

 Restiaceae are peculiar to Australia and South Africa, where they are most 



