DEVELOPMENT OF PLANTS 393 



developed in the same flower. One or more of the lower bracts 

 of a spike are usually without flowers and above them are one 

 to several flowers enclosed by secondary bracts (Fig. 283, 4). 

 Removing the secondary bracts, the flower proper is seen (Fig. 

 284, 3^, 3^). This consists in many of the grasses of three 

 stamens and one pistil and usually two small scale-like organs, 

 the lodicules, which assist by their expansion in forcing open 

 the protecting bracts at the time of flowering. The stamen con- 

 sists of a long filament attached to the middle of the anther so 

 that the latter organ can swing at the end of the filament, an 

 arrangement known as the versatile anther. The stigma is 

 often brightly colored and of a delicate feathery character, indi- 

 cating that the plants are anemophilous. The ovary contains 

 a single ovule. The manner of flowering of the numerous 

 genera of this order varies. In many cases the stigmas are 

 first extruded from the bracts and can therefore be crossed only 

 with the microspores from some earlier flowering plant. In 

 other instances, stigmas and anthers are extended together and 

 in some genera no injury results from the transfer of the micro- 

 spores to the stigmas of the same flower. It is worth any one's 

 time to note the time of flowering, the region on the spike where 

 it begins and the manner of opening of the bracts and extension 

 of anther and stigma. Many open between 6 and 7 A. M. on 

 pleasant days. Owing to the swelling of the lodicules, or of 

 the base of the bracts, these latter organs are forced apart, per- 

 mitting the extension of the stigma and anthers. The filament 

 quickly elongates and soon curves so as to allow the anther to 

 swing back and forth in the wind. The two lobes of the anther 

 now curve apart and open at their ends by a narrow slit, forming 

 a cup in which the microspores collect (Fig. 283, 5). As the 

 rocking of the anther in the wind sifts out the spores, more 

 rattle down into the cup and so a very gradual scattering of the 

 spores is effected. This entire process may be effected in a few 

 minutes, and in the case of the wheat each flower is said to last 

 for only 15 minutes. The Graminales includes two families: 

 The Graminaceae, or grass family, and the Cyperaceae or sedge 

 family. The grass family is by far the more important and is 



