348 The Romance of Wild Flowers 
struction has, in former times, been prohibited by 
Act of Parliament. 
The characteristic structure of all Grass stems is 
that of a series of straight tubes, placed end to end, 
the joints being more or less swollen and _ solid. 
Familiar examples of this structure on a larger scale 
may be seen by examining a Bamboo rod 
or a length of Wheat or Barley straw— 
all Grasses. It is a singular fact that 
in growing Grasses we never see the 
stem with the exception of the top joint, 
which bears the flowers. This is due to 
the peculiar formation of the leaf-stalk, 
which is flattened out until it is broader 
than the leaf-blade, and then wrapped 
around about two joints of the stem. 
Taking a growing stem of Grass and pulling off a leaf 
carefully, you will find that it is not joined where it 
appears to be, but at some distance lower down. 
These leaves are what a botanist would term linear— 
that is, with more or less parallel sides, and very 
narrow in proportion to their length. _ Their veins 
always run parallel with each other and with the 
midrib. 
A variety of the Common Oat-grass(Arrhenatherum 
avenaceum) has become a bulbous plant in order to 
avoid being dried up in summer on the poor clayey 
or sandy soils it affects. At the base of its stem it 
produces a cluster of little onion-like tubers, stored 
with food and capable of rapid growth when 
rain again falls) This character has earned for it 
the name of Onion Couch, the last word having 
reference to the fact that it is as troublesome as 
Grass spikelet 
