GRASSY NOOKS. 149 



that is, the stamens and pistils, are in separate florets, 

 sometimes in separate spikes. Both the sedges and 

 grasses have three stamens, and most of them tw 

 pistils. The sedges have no calyx or corolla ; the male 

 flowers are accompanied by a tiny leaf or bract, and 

 the female by a few bristles. In the true grasses the 

 flower consists of glumes and palece. That part of the 

 plant which is called calyx, is called g Iwne in grasses, and 

 palece for corolla ; they are both neither more nor less 

 than inner and outer chafly scales. The bristle which 

 often accompanies the flower of the grass is called an 

 awn. There are always three stamens, with one ex- 

 ception, and form an object of beauty during their 

 brief continuance, as they fringe lightly and delicately 

 the spike or panicle. There are generally two pistils, 

 but there is one exception in the Mat Grass (Nardus 

 stricta). Its narrow and plentiful leaves grow in a 

 thick mat : its narrow spike contains but one row of 

 florets, which throw out a fringe of purple anthers, 

 generally on one side only. The foliage is dark green. 

 It frequents moors and hill pastures, where its roots 

 form a thick mat. 



The Sweet Vernal Grass (Anthoxantlmm odoratum) 

 which forms the exception to the grasses having three 



