THE GKAMINE^E, 



179 



soming-time, when the stamens are to be seen (Fig. 



336). Along the rachis are rows of peculiar-looking 

 bundles. The number of these rows 

 varies- in different kinds of wheat. 

 Break the spike at about the middle, 

 and take off a bundle from the top 

 of the lower half. Observe whether 

 it is attached by its side or its end, 

 and whether any of its scales adhere 

 to the rachis either wholly or in part. 



FIG. 337. 



Remove the first two of these 

 scales : there is no trace of either 

 pistil or stamens within them. They 

 are quite empty. What do you find 

 next? Are there not two or three 

 separate flowers forming a sort of 

 spikelet within these two outer scales 

 (Fig. 337) ? Examine one of them. 



In Fig. 338 a single flower is 

 shown, with the two glumes found at the base of the 

 spikelet, and called the lower and upper glumes. What 

 remain are the parts of a single flower. Beginning 



