CHAPTER XII 



MORPHOLOGY OF THE FLORAL ORGANS 



The floral organs of phanerogams are known to be 

 highly differentiated or specialized shoots, the receptacle 

 representing a stem, and the stamens and pistils repre- 

 senting greatly modified leaves. In the grasses the 

 flowers are nearly always devoid of floral envelopes, the 

 calyx and corolla being absent or represented only by the 

 lodicules. The flower then is reduced to the essential 

 organs, the stamens and pistil, the protection usually 

 afforded by the floral envelopes being here afforded 

 by bracts. 



THE INFLORESCENCE OR FLOWER-CLUSTER 



142. The flowers of grasses are usually segregated 

 upon distinct shoots that are easily distinguished from the 

 foliage-shoots or the foliage portion of a shoot. These 

 aggregations of flowers constitute the inflorescence. 



An inflorescence is always terminal upon the shoot, and 

 commonly these shoots are the main foliage-shoots of the 

 plant, as in wheat, blue-grass, timothy and sorghum. In 

 addition to the inflorescence terminating the main culm 

 and leafy branches, others may arise from the axils of the 

 leaves. Such lateral inflorescences are, of course, terminal 

 upon lateral branches, but since such branches bear no 

 foliage-leaves the inflorescences are said to be lateral or 

 axillary. In some grasses such as bamboos, bamboo- 

 panicums, and less commonly in herbaceous genera, the 



(112) 



