GRASSES. 



81 



modifications which will be best understood by studying 

 a few examples. 



106. Procure specimens of the common 

 Red-top, and first compare the general 

 aspect of the flower-cluster (Fig. 103) 

 with that of Timothy. Instead of a dense 

 spike we have here a loose, open inflor- 

 escence ; it is technically known as a 

 panicle. You will see that 

 it is an irregular branched 

 raceme. As in Timothy, 

 each pair of glumes encloses 

 Fig. 106. but one flower (Fig. 104), and 

 we must observe that the 

 term spikelet, so far as 

 Grasses are concerned, is 

 applied to the pair of glumes 

 and whatever is contained in 

 them, whether one flower, or 

 many, as is often the case. 

 In Red-top and Timothy, the 

 spikelets are 1-flowered. Ob- 

 serve the very thin texture 

 of the palets, and also that 

 one of them (the lower, i.e., 

 the one farthest from the 

 stalk) is nearly twice as large 

 as the other, and is marked 

 with three nerves. 



Fij*. 105. Common Meadow-Grass. 



Fig. 106. Spikelet enlarged, showing the glumes at the base. 



Fig. 107. Single flower of same. 



Fig. 105. 



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