Grasses '159 



And the lower part of the grass-stem, which Na- 

 ture thus reenforces, is just the portion subjected 

 to the greatest strains when winds sway the head 

 of blossom above. 



The Indian corn, the giant among native grasses, 

 with its large leaves and long slender stalk, seems 

 peculiarly likely to fall a victim to the wind. And 

 its fibre-vascular bundles, which are water and 

 food conduits, might, one would think, be squeezed 

 or crushed by the swaying of the breeze-rocked 

 stem. A beautiful provision is made against either 

 of these mischances. 



Each bundle, in the first place, is invested by a 

 strong, tough bundle-sheath. And being thus well 

 protected individually, the bundles are used, col- 

 lectively, as a means to reenforce the stem. For 

 the course of each from the ground to the leaf 

 is a long arch, curving outward. To each bun- 

 dle with its sheath acts as a strut, and if the bun- 

 dles interweave, as they do most beautifully, in 

 some grasses and rushes they resemble the net- 

 work of girders in an iron bridge. 



A like adaptation enables the palmetto to sup- 

 port its heavy crown, despite the winds which 

 blow so lustily in southern latitudes. 



The gales which bend but do not snap the 



