v1] MORPHOLOGY OF THE FLOWER 97 
and consists in the typical case of three stamens and one 
carpel. The development of the ovary lends no support 
to the view that there are two carpels: the stigmatic 
plumes are not separate styles. Nor does the fact that 
some grasses have six stamens lend support to the idea 
that the flower is derived from the trimerous type 
so common in Monocotyledons: other numbers may 
occur—e.g. as few as two (Anthoxanthum, Fig. 32) or 
even one only (Uniola, Cinna, &ec.) or as many as 20 or 40 
in certain other exotic grasses. 
Even when three stigmatic plumes are developed, as 
in some Bamboos, close investigation does not confirm 
the view that the ovary consists of more than one 
carpel. 
We must therefore regard the flower of the grass as 
typically composed of one carpel and three stamens, with 
no perianth whatever. It is subtended by one or more 
bracteoles (the lodicules), and enclosed in a pair of 
bracteoles one higher than the other (the pale). The 
glumes are bracts of the partial inflorescence—the 
spikelet. 
That there are some departures from this type in 
detail does not invalidate the importance of the fact that 
most grasses conform to it. 
I now pass to the consideration of a grouping of 
our ordinary grasses according to their floral arrange- 
ments. 
The student should distinctly understand that the 
following notes are intended to serve as an introduction 
to the floral characters of our grasses, and not to replace 
by 
W. ( 
