GRASS FAMILY 



547 



lower or outer of which is termed the flowering glume, the inner, 

 which is generally of very delicate texture and has two green 

 ribs, being termed the pale. Within these two glumes, and 

 alternate with them, are found 2, or rarely 3, very minute scales, 

 known as lodicules, but these are sometimes wanting. There is, 

 in fact, a frequent suppression of certain parts of the floral 

 envelope, glumes being often empty or sterile, and the whole 

 spikelet, or locusta, sometimes consisting of only i glume and 

 I pale. In many grasses one or more of the glumes bears a 

 bristle-like point or awn, which is sometimes very long, and may 

 either be terminal, proceeding from the point of the glume, as in 

 Barley, or be inserted on its back or at its very base. Each 

 flower has usually 3 stamens (rarely i, 2 or 6), with long anthers, 



Spikelet of Wild Oat : a, outer glumes ; b, flowering glume, with awn ; c, pale ; 

 d, lodicules ; e, ovary ; _/, stamens. 



the lobes of which diverge at each end, and weak, hair-like 

 filaments. The ovary is i-chambered and i-ovuled, and is 

 crowned by 2 (rarely i or 3) styles with feathery stigmas, the 

 pollen being generally carried by wind. The fruit or grain, 

 technically known as a caryopsis, is entirely filled by the seed, 

 so that their coats adhere ; and the embryo lies to one side at the 

 base of a mass of mealy or farinaceous albumen. 



Grasses are abundant everywhere on land, and there are 

 species inhabiting fresh water ; but there are no marine forms. 

 In the tropics they acquire a much greater height than in colder 

 regions ; but the compact grassy turf, which is such a charm of 

 our English scenery, is almost entirely wanting in the Torrid 

 Zone, those species which have the "social" habit being mainly 

 characteristic, in fact, of the colder parts of the Temperate Zone. 



The cereal grasses. Wheat {Triticum cesiivum and T. hybernum)^ 



N N 2 



