228 



BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



H. sativum hexastichon includes the plants having the grains 

 in six rows, these having been cultivated since prehistoric 

 times and now cultivated in Southern Europe. H. sativum vitl- 

 gare includes the plants in which the grains are in four irregular 

 rows, and these are cultivated in northern temperate regions. 

 The latter plant is cultivated in the United States and furnishes 

 the grain used in the preparation of malt (p. 575). 



Zca Mays (Indian Corn) is a cereal plant probably indigenous 

 to Central Mexico. It is extensively cultivated in the United 

 States and other parts of the world for its grain. From a multi- 

 ple, primary, somewhat fibrous root arise one or more erect simple 



Fig. 126. Diagrammatic outline of a spikelet: nY, lower glume; <|) Y, upper glume; 

 nl, outer pale; <i> I, inner pale; 1, 1, lodicules; st, stamens; l-I, main axis; II, lateral axes 

 or branches. After Warming. 



culms, which are grooved on alternate sides in the successive 

 internodes and from the nodes of which arise aerial secondary 

 roots. The leaves are alternate and consist of three parts: (a) 

 a blade, which is long, broadly-linear and tapering toward the 

 apex, the tip being pendulous; (b) a lower sheathing portion 

 which is open; and (c) a short, translucent, somewhat hairy 

 ligule, situated between the sheath and the blade. The flowers 

 are monoecious, the staminatc, which are arranged in a terminal 

 panicle, maturing first : the pistillate occur in axillary spikes, the 

 axes of which constitute the corn cob. They are enclosed in 

 spathe-like bracts or husks, from which the long filiform styles 



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