; : 
400 FLOWERS OF ANTHOXANTHUM—-HOLM. 
thors, as, for instance, Kunth, Nees- Von Esenbeck, Torrey, Roeper, Blytt, 
Hartman, Garcke, Lange, and others have adopted the same explanation 
as given above, and so strikingly characterized by Roeper * as “ Hine — 
Hierochloé, deren miinnliche Blumen auf die blossen Deckbliitter 
reducirt sind,” other authors have come to an entirely different con- 
clusion. D6ll+ was unable to content himself and to believe that these. 
three glumes, called flowering glumes by the other authors, should 
represent organs of the same morphological degree, when so different 
in shape; while otherwise, as for instance in Bromus, all the glumes 
show nearly the same structure. He therefore came to the conclusion 
that the fifth and sixth glume (the flowering glume and the palet of the 
perfect flower) represent the exterior wreath of a perigon, and that all 
the glumes are then situated on the same axis. This same explana- | 
tion is also given by Hichler,i thus agreeing with D6ll, who asserts | 
that the flower is terminal on the rhachis, although he admits it to be | 
contrary to the definition of most other authors. | 
Finally, Hackel§ has described Anthoxvanthum as having four empty — 
glumes, but does not mention whether the second pair, the inner ones, 
represents neutral flowers or not. It would be a very singular case, 
indeed, if the flower should really be terminal, although D6Il’s conclu. — 
sion is very attractive. Schumann,|| however, has not hesitated to give 
the same statement: “ Ein Contaktkérper ist auch im auch im Abor nicht 
anzunehmen, die oberste Bliithe ist echt terminal (Axthoranthum, Hie- 
rochloa).” But the same author seems not quite unwilling to change 
his idea, if only some “ Missbildunzen” (J. ¢., p. 131) might be produced, of 
which even Doll seems to have observed two cases. 
In offering now a contribution to the explanation of the flowers of 
Anthoxranthum, the aim will be to show ‘‘that the two awned glumes 
inside the proper empty ones really belong to two neutral flowers,” 
and “that the perfect flower has both a flowering glume and a palet, 
thereby not being terminal, but lateral.” The material, which has 
served as a base for the present investigation, was collected in the 
Smithsonian park in this city. In regard to the locality where the 
specimens were collected the ground had lately been overflowed, so that 
in this fact the cause of the malformation might be found, especially 
since no other factors were observed, neither parasitic fungi nor insects. 
The general appearance of the plants was quite remarkable; the 
culms were much taller than usual, the inflorescence very sie: loose, 
disagreement as to their true morphological identity. While several au- 
f 
* Joh. oer per: cae lor a Mee kle ae 1844. 
tDO6ll: Beitriige zur Pflanzenkunde. Mannheimer Jahresbericht, 1868. 
tA. W. Kichler: Bliithendiagramme, 1875. 
§ E. Hackel: The true Grasses, translated from ‘‘ Die natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien” 
by F. Lamson Scribner and Effie Southworth, 1890. 
| Karl Schumann: Neue Untersuchungen iiber den Bliithenanschluss, Lei ipzig, 1890, 
p. 128, ete. } 
| 
