Grasses 173 



As the glumes close over the pistil so soon, 

 the wind has little time in which to bring it pollen 

 from other wheat-blossoms, and it is often obliged 

 to use the remnant which the stamens have kept. 

 With this it can produce good seed. 



The flowering period of the whole spike of blos- 

 soms lasts four days, but since each flower blooms 

 for but the quarter of an hour a very small propor- 

 tion of them are expanded at any one time. 



One of the marked characteristics of all grass- 

 flowers is their evanescence; no blossoms are so 

 short lived. 



During their brief time of blooming a few 

 species are visited by insects. The hospitality 

 shown to these little guests is perhaps a last 

 survival of an ancient family custom, a lingering 

 memory of a time when the grasses habitually en- 

 tertained a miscellaneous winged company, and the 

 wind was by no means their only hope. 



" I have often observed a small fly busy upon 

 the anthers of various grasses," says Miiller, "and 

 at least two species are visited by beetles." 



The giants of the tribe are the bamboos, which, in 

 their tropic homes, attain a height of fifty or sixty 

 feet, while even those which grow in Florida gardens 

 cast their swaying shadows on the houses' eaves. 



