GENERAL INFORMATION 101 



Inflorescence — Terminal only on main culm and branches, or 

 axillary also. Simple or compound. Panicle, size (length 

 and width), loose or compact, few-flowered or many- 

 flowered, nodding or erect. Raceme, size, etc. Spike, 

 size, etc. 



Axis of panicle: Size, pubescence, etc.; branches solitary, 

 fascicled or whorled, flexuous or stiff, ascending, spread- 

 ing or reflexed. 



Axis of raceme or spike: Continuous or disjointing; slender, 

 stout, narrow, winged; pubescence. 

 Spikelet— Pediceled or sessile; laterally or dorsally compressed; 

 falling entire, alone, or with joints of axis; florets falling 

 from the glumes; number of florets. 



Glumes: Similar or unlike; size (compared to spikelet, one- 

 half, one-third, etc.); shape, awned, toothed, etc.; tex- 

 ture, nerving, pubescence. 



Lemma: Fertile or sterile, size, shape, texture, pubescence. 



Palea: Flower bearing or empty, size (sometimes obsolete), 

 shape, texture. 



It will further the student's self -training if he writes 

 down the characters of the first few grasses studied 

 and of any particularly puzzling or interesting later 

 ones, making drawings of the spikelet and its parts 

 or diagrams of complicated inflorescences. One 

 should not hesitate to make drawings merely because 

 he '^can not draw." However crude a sketch may 

 be it is of great value, not only as a record of observa- 

 tions, but for its training in powers of observation. 

 The one who '^ never could draw" is the very one 

 who should make frequent drawings, however crude 

 they may be. 



Anyone wishing to make a serious study of grasses 



