38 



THE TRUE GRASSES. 



one species (E. Mexicana Schrad.) (Fig. 9) with 

 varieties (e.g., E. luxurians 

 in Mexico, "Teosiute"). 

 Stems 2-7 m. high, very 

 leafy, and valuable for 

 fodder in warm countries ; 

 rarely blossoms in Eu- 

 rope, even in the south. 

 [Teosinte is cultivated in 

 the Southern States for 

 green fodder. It rarely 

 blooms, and matures its 

 seeds only in southern 

 Florida.] 



2. (38) Zea L. (Mays 

 Gartn.). Habit, foliage, 

 $ inflorescence, arrange- 

 ment of the ? spikes in the 

 leaf-axils with membra- 

 naceous basal bracts and 

 the long projecting styles, 

 as in the preceding genus, 

 but the $ spikes (orig- 

 inally by monstrous or ter- 

 atological development?) 

 are grown together into 

 a spongy, continuous, 

 club-shaped body (the 

 "cob") upon which the 



Fio. 9.- 





elevation that is 

 limited by a long shallow 

 furrow on each side) correspond to a single spike of 

 EucMcvna. Grain developed at the expense of the other 

 parts, projecting beyond the thin bracts, which rarely 

 become coriaceous and enclose it. 



One species (Zea Mays L.), Maize (Fig. 10), known 

 only in its cultivated state, but originating at all events 

 in tropical America, apparently greatly changed by cul- 



