MONOCOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 



21 



GRAMIN'EJE. GRASS FAMILY 



Mostly herbs, with usually hollow stems, closed and enlarged 

 at the nodes. Alternate leaves, in 2 ranks, with sheathing 

 bases, which are split open on the side opposite the blade. 

 The flowers are nearly or quite 

 destitute of floral envelopes, 

 solitary, and borne in the axils 

 of scaly bracts called glumes, 

 which are arranged in 2 ranks 

 overlapping each other on 



FlG. 2. Diagram 

 of Inflorescence 

 of a Grass. 



g, sterile glumes ; 

 y;,,;i flowering 

 glume; / 2 > asca ly 

 bract (palea) ; e, 

 transparent 

 scales (lodicules) 

 at the base of the 

 flower; B, the 

 flower. 



FIG. 3. Fescue-grass (Festuca 



pratensis). 



A, spikelet (compare Fig. 2) ; /?, a 

 flower, the lodicules in front and 

 the palea behind ; C, a lodicule ; 

 /), ovary. 



1-many-flowered spikelets ; these are variously grouped in 

 spikes, panicles (/. Figs. 136, A, B, C ; e. Fig. 183), and so on. 

 The fruit is a grain. 



