894 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK x. 



grass differs greatly in appearance from such a root as that of the 

 carrot or radish, which is termed a tap-root. All grasses possess 

 fibrous roots, as also do wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize, and millet, 

 which are merely grasses cultivated for the sake of their grain. 



The upright stem in a grass plant is called the culm. In most 

 species the culm is hollow, save at the bases of the leaf-sheaths the 

 joints, where it is solid. Many grasses develop a prostrate stem, or 

 stolon, which at intervals sends rootlets downwards and leaf-shoots 

 upwards, and thus gives rise to a number of independent centres of 

 growth. Such grasses are described as stoloniferous ; fiorin and couch 

 grass are examples. 



The leaf in most grasses is seen to be long, narrow, and strap- 

 shaped, coming to a point at its free end. When held between the 

 ' eye and the light, the leaf is seen to be traversed by a number of 

 parallel ribs extending from tip to base. Traced downwards the leaf 

 is found to embrace the stem, by means of its leaf-sheath. In most 

 kinds of grasses the leaf-sheath is split down the front. By pulling 

 the leaf slightly away from the stem, and looking at the place where 

 the leaf joins its sheath, a thin whitish outgrowth is brought into 

 view. This is the ligule, and it is worthy of note because, on account 

 of variations in its size and shape, it is frequently of use in affording a 

 means of distinguishing between grasses that are otherwise much alike. 



The most characteristic features of grasses are to be found in the 

 flowers, and for these the ear or panicle must be examined. To 

 understand these characters it is desirable to take an ear of some large- 

 flowered grass, an ear of oats, for example. The nodding structures 

 at the ends of the delicate branches are called spikelets. One of these 

 spikelets should be broken off and examined. At its base are to be 

 seen two large boat-shaped leaves called the outer glumes 

 almost, but not quite, opposite each other. Between these outer 

 glumes are embraced two or more little flowers, or florets, as they 

 are more appropriately termed, on account of their small size. Each 

 floret is made up of two chaffy leaves, nearly opposite to each other. 

 The larger and lower of these is called the flowering glume, the smaller 

 and upper is the palea or pale. Between the flowering glume and pale 

 are contained the three stamens, from the anther-lobes of which comes 

 the male fertilising material, or pollen. In the heart of the flower, 

 between the filaments, or stalks, of the stamens, may be seen the 

 ovary, which eventually ripens into the grain. 



In most grasses the florets are much smaller than they are in the 

 oat-plant, and there exist various modifications of the parts just 

 enumerated. In the wheat-plant, however, the florets are large, but 

 the spikelets which contain them have no stalks. The presence or 

 absence of stalks to the spikelets determines to a great extent the 

 appearance of the ear or panicle of a grass. Where the spikelets are 

 not supported by stalks, but rest directly upon the stem or axis, we 

 get the close ear seen in wheat, couch grass, barley, barley grasses, 

 rye, and rye grasses. Where the spikelets are upon long stalks which 

 stand well away from the stem, such panicles as those of oats, oat 



