22 



KEY AND FLORA 



Scapes erect, becoming longer than the leaves, cylindrical, 

 spongy. Flowers bisexual, in paniculate, 3-bracted umbels, 



small, white or pink. 

 Stamens 6-9. Ovaries 

 numerous in one or more 

 whorls on a flat recepta- 

 cle. Fruit 1-seeded akenes 

 which are ribbed on the 

 back and sides.* 



1. A. Plantago-aquatica L. 

 WATER PLANTAIN. Peren- 

 nial ; root fibrous. Leaves 

 ovate or somewhat cordate, 

 5-7-nerved when erect, float- 

 ing leaves narrower and 

 sometimes linear. Scapes 

 usually single ; panicle 1-2 

 ft. long ; flowering branches 

 whorled, subtended by three 

 narrow, striate bracts ; pedi- 

 cels slender, elongated. Ova- 

 ries 15-20 in a single whorl ; 

 base of the short style per- 

 sistent, forming a beak at 

 the inner angle of the akene. 

 Akenes obliquely obovate, 

 2-3 -keeled on the back. 

 Common in ponds and 

 muddy places.* 



FIG. 2. Diagrammatic 

 representation of a 

 several-flowered 

 grass spikelet 



g, sf, the glumes; p, 

 p', the palets ; I, lod- 

 icules; /, a flower. 

 The axis is much 

 lengthened, to sep- 

 arate the flowers. 

 (After Schimper) 



FIG. 3. Spike-like 

 panicle of ver- 

 nal grass (An- 

 thoxanthum) 



a, mature anthers. 

 (Slightly enlarged) 



4. GRAMINEJE. GRASS 

 FAMILY 



Mostly herbs, with usu- 

 ally hollow stems, closed 

 and enlarged at the nodes. 

 Leaves alternate, in two ranks, with sheathing bases, which 

 are split open on the side opposite the blade. Flowers nearly 

 or quite destitute of floral envelopes, solitary, and borne in 

 the axils of scaly bracts, which are arranged in two ranks 



