190 COMPOUND ORGANS OF PLANTS. 



this relation of parts leads at once to the detection of the fact 

 that the corolla has been suppressed. The perianth of the 

 female flower is also a simple calyx, consisting of four very 

 unequal sepals, the two outer small, the inner foliaceous, 

 enclosing a single pistil. 



Fig. 86. Fig. 87. 



Fig. 85, shows a compound spike of wheat, (Triticum,) with 

 numerous spikelets or flowers arranged along the axis in a 

 zigzag form. Fig. 87, one of these spikelets magnified, and 

 deprived of its glumes, showing the three stamens a, hanging 

 by long thread-like filaments, and the feathery styles of the 

 pistil within two bracts sq. The flower in this case is herma- 

 phrodite. 



The flower is therefore still further reduced in the sedges 

 (Carices,) which are equally without floral envelopes, and are 

 unisexual. 



Fig. 88, shows the monoacious flowers of a species of Carex. 

 a. One of the staminate flowers, consisting of a single glume 

 or scale and three stamens, b. One of the pistillate flowers. 



