114 A TEXT-BOOK OF GRASSES 



the other pediccled. The inflorescence is therefore generally re- 

 ferred to as a raceme or as composed of racemes (Fig. 16). 



Simple racemes with elongated pedicels are not common. 

 Simple panicles in which the spikelets are racemosely arranged 

 above and more or less paniculate below are frequent. The meadow 

 fescue and other fescue grasses usually bear this kind of an inflor- 

 escence. 



Compound inflorescence. — This term has received no 

 very precise appHcation. It is usually applied to a large 

 inflorescence made up of numerous smaller inflorescences, 

 especially if the latter have their distinctness emphasized 

 by sheathing bracts as in Cymbopogon Nardus and many 

 other Andropogoneae. 



144. Unisexual inflorescences. — The spikelets that 

 make up an inflorescence are usually alike, and consist 

 of perfect flowers. But sometimes the spikelets are uni- 

 sexual, the male and female spikelets being in distinct 

 and usually dissimilar inflorescences. There are a few 

 dioecious genera such as Spinifex, Bulbilis, Scleropogon, 

 Gynerium and Jouvea. In these the inflorescence of the 

 staminate plants is very different in appearance from that 

 of the pistillate plants. Sometimes the difference is so 

 great that the different forms might easily be considered 

 by the casual observer to belong to distinct species or 

 even to distinct genera. There are cases where the two 

 forms have been described by botanists as belonging to 

 distinct genera. In the common buffalo-grass of the 

 plains the staminate inflorescence consists of 1 to 3 one- 

 sided spikes raised on a peduncle a few inches long (Fig. 

 48), while the pistillate inflorescence is hidden among the 

 foliage close to the surface of the ground (Fig. 49). Some- 

 times (e.g. Distichlis) the staminate and pistillate inflores- 

 cences are similar though not alike (Fig. 52), 



