AKTHOXAKTHUIo.. 



277 



The JFfower is diandrous, composed of 2 small, smooth 

 pales, 2 long stamens with versatile double anthers, and an 

 ovary with 2 styles bearing plumous stigmas as long as the 

 stamens.* Finally the grain or caryopsis resembles a wheat 

 kernel, but many times smaller. 



The Name. To this fine Grass, which is widely dis- 

 persed over Europe as well as America, 

 Linnaeus gave the name of Anthoxdn- 

 thum odoratum, meaning either 

 "Sweet-smelling yellow flowers" or 

 "Sweet-smelling flower of flowers." 

 But its flowers are not sweet-smelling, 

 yet its herbage when cut imparts to 

 the drying hay much of its delicious 

 fragrance. 



Thus we have analyzed three genera 

 of Grasses. In addition, let the stu- 

 dent study the Red-top, whose spike- 

 lets are simply 1-flowered ; Wheat, 

 Oats, and Corn. In the latter the 

 flowers of the tassel are all staminate ; 

 of the ear all pistillate. 



Germination. In the Exogens, as we have often seen, 

 the embryo of the seed has two lobes or cotyledons,, or as 

 botanists say, is dicotyledonous. In the Endogens, the em- 

 bryo is more simple, being generally an oblong body (Fig. 

 LXXVIII, 10), of which one end is a radicle and the other a 

 plumule wrapped up in a single cotyledon, only its end being 

 visible. The nourishment is partly in the cotyledon and 

 mostly the mealy albumen on one side of it. In germina- 



2, Agr6stis vnlgaris, a, 1- 

 flowered spikelet ; 6, the 

 flower removed from its 

 glumes ; 3, Agr6stis scabra ; 

 c, the 2 glumes separated 

 from (tf) the single flower. 



* We cannot fail to observe the special adaptation of these flowers to wind-fertili- 

 zation. Their long exserted stamens and stigmas are lifted to the breeze like waving 

 banners. The anthers opening their whole length, swing nicely balanced and tremu- 

 lous, while the stigmas wave their plumes to catch the flying pollen grains. 



