THE GRASS FAMILY 23 



The mode of flowering is by wide variation of spikes, as 

 in Foxtail and Couch Grass, and also by panicles, according 

 as the spike is more or less branched, as in Sweet Grass and 

 Wild Oats. Both spikes and panicles are composed of spikelets, 

 enclosed in scales or glumes, bearing one or more inconspicuous 

 flowers. 



The seed. What is commonly called a grass "seed" is 

 composed of two distinct parts: 1. The kernel or caryopsis, 

 which is really the seed as it contains the germ or young plant 

 in a dormant state. 2. The scales or glumes, which are not 

 an essential part of the seed but merely form a protective cover- 

 ing. Wheat, rye, hulless barley and corn, which belong to the 

 Grass family, when threshed, are called true seeds, as the kernel 

 or caryopsis is free from the glumes. The kernel or caryopsis 

 of oats and the common grasses generally remains enclosed 

 within the glumes. Occasionally both forms are found together 

 as in timothy, which almost always contains both hulled and 

 unhulled seeds. 



The seeds of grasses are produced in abundance. They 

 retain their vitality for a relatively short period. The various 

 species have different contrivances for natural distribution. 

 Those which give trouble as noxious weeds are distributed 

 principally by human agencies. The seeds of all the weeds of 

 the Grass family occur in commercial seeds of clovers, grasses, 

 forage plants and cereal grains. 



The annual and biennial grasses are propagated by seeds 

 alone; the perennial species by seeds and rootstocks. 



Of GrLD. 



Gif thi malar (tenant) puttis guld (weeds) in thi land and will nocht deUuer it and 

 clenge it he aw to be punyst puniri sicut seductor qui dueit exercitum in terra domini 

 Regis vel baronis ^hanged). 



And gif thi natiff man or thi bonde (servant) haf fylit thi land \*ith guld for ilk 

 plant of it he sail gif to the or ony other lord a mutone (wether sheep) to be forfalt and 

 neuer the les he sal clenge the land of the guld. 



Statute of Alexander II of Scotland (1212-1249). 



