APPENDIX A 



503 



female. Pollination is by the wind. A large number of flowers of simple 

 structure are aggregated in the inflorescence : cross-pollination is therefore 

 probable. 



The Sedges are of little value for fodder. Drainage of the wet ground in 

 which they grow promotes the more valuable Grasses, from which they are 

 distinguished by their solid stems and leaf-divergence of ^, while in Grasses 

 it is | : also by the median position of the embryo in the seed, while in 

 Grasses it is placed laterally. 



Family : GRAMINEAE. Example / COMMON RYE-GRASS. 



(n) The Rye-Grass (Lolium perenne, L.) is a common grass of meadows 

 and road-sides ; its variety italicum is often cultivated for fodder. It has 

 leafy stolons and ascending flowering shoots, and it is easily recognised 



FIG. 406. 



Inflorescence and flower of Lolium perenne. I. shows part of the main rachis, with 

 one lateral spikelet in the axil of the single glume (gl). II. a single flower with its 

 two paleae (p), pendent stamens, and feathery stigmas (st). III. flower dissected 

 out, showing lodicules (/). IV. the gynoecium. V. floral diagram: gl~ glume; 

 gl' = glume which is wanting in Lolium ; p = paleae ; I -lodicules. 



amongst common Grasses by their long flattened form. Its flowers open in 

 succession, so that it can be obtained in 'the flowering state throughout the 

 summer. The flowers can be made to open at any time by keeping them warm, 

 and in water. 



The inflorescence is borne on a long stalk, above the uppermost foliage 

 leaf, which has a split sheath, ligule, and lamina. It is a compact, com- 

 pound spike, composed of spikelets placed edgewise, alternately on its two 

 sides, with one terminal. Each lateral spikelet, which consists of an axis 

 bearing flowers alternately in two rows, arises in the axil of a bract, or outer 

 glume (Fig. 406, I.). In most Grasses there is a second, or inner glume, on 

 the side opposite to the outer ; but this, being unnecessary for protection in 

 the dense inflorescence of the Rye-Grass, is not present, except in the 

 terminal spikelet. Each flower is ensheathed in two further bracts or 



