Stem, Leaf, and Flower 



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, Stales 



ScaU ^orms 



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uppermost) a flower is borne. Scales which enclose 

 a flower are termed flowering scales. These exhibit 

 many interesting peculiarities in their structure, 

 often bearing a bristle-like appendage, called an 

 awn, which is considered by botanists to be a 

 modified leaf-blade. Such awns are straight, bent, 

 or twisted, and either terminate the scales, when 

 they are known as terminal awns, or are borne on 

 the backs of the scales, when the awns are said to 

 be dorsal; that part of the scale below the awn 

 representing the sheath of a leaf, while the portion 



0/| of the scale above the awn corresponds to the 

 U ligule. A flowering scale is said to be keeled 

 when it is flattened and folded so that its two 

 edges are brought near together and the mid-vein 

 is prominent as a ridge on the back of the scale. 

 When the veins of a scale are conspicuous the 

 scale is said to be three-nerved, five-nerved, seven- 

 nerved, or nine-nerved, according to the number 

 Oof prominent veins, 

 Palei.-— Opposite the flowering scale, and with 

 ' it enclosing the flower, is an awnless scale, called 

 the palet, usually thin in texture, and two-nerved, 

 showing two green keels. The palet may be 

 minute or lacking, as in certain of the Bent- 

 grasses, or it may exceed the flowering scale in 

 length, as in Sharp-scaled Manna-grass. 



Lodicules — At the base of the flower, within 

 its scales, are usually two (rarely three) minute, 

 E thin, and translucent scales, termed lodicules. 



These will rarely be noticed save at the time of flowering, when, 

 for a short time, they are swollen with sap, and, by pressing 

 the flowering scale and palet apart, cause the opening of the 

 blossom. Lodicules soon wither, and in some grasses are 



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