134 



THE STORY OF THE PLANT*. 



rule the stamens of grasses hang out freely to 

 the wind, and the stigmas are feathery and most 

 graceful in outline (Fig. 31). The flowers are 

 usually collected in spikes like that of wheat, or 

 in loose clusters like oats; they frequently hang 

 over in pendulous bunches. Their success may 



Fig. 30. — A flower of wheat, 

 with its parts divided, a, 

 the carpel and stigmas ; ^, 

 the stamens ; ^, the petals, 

 very minute ; d and e, the 

 calyx. 



Fig. 31.— Flower of wheat, with 

 the calyx of two chaffy scales 

 removed This shows the 

 arrangement of petals, sta- 

 mens, and ovary. 



be gathered from the fact that almost all the 

 great plains in the world, such as the American 

 prairies, the Pampas, and the Steppes, are covered 

 with grasses ; while even in hilly countries the 

 valleys and downs are also largely clad with 

 smaller and more delicate species. No plants 

 assume so great a variety of divergent forms; 

 the total number of kinds of grasses can hardly 

 be estimated ; in Britain alone we have more 

 than a hundred native species. 



