386 GRASSES. PART 11. 



the interior of that which precedes it. In youth the 

 stems of the grasses are solid, and the bundles of woody 

 tissue which surround the pith are parallel to one 

 another and to the axis of the stem; but, at the joints, 

 they are turned aside and are condensed into a node or 

 joint, where they enter into a new arrangement, and pass 

 into the lanceolate leaf, to form its longitudinal ribs. 

 The compression of the nbro-vascular tissue is so great 

 as to form a septum across the interior of the stem at 

 the node. This is the case in all the grasses ; for the 

 pith, which is of moist green cellular tissue when they 

 are young, soon disappears, so that a full grown grass 

 is a hollow stem articulated at intervals by solid joints, 

 from whence the long narrow leaves spring alternately, 

 and as the bases of the leaves are continuous with the 

 stem, they do not fall off when they wither. 



In the majority of cases, the inflorescence of the Gra- 

 minacese consists of a pistil and three anthers ; but in 

 the Anthoxanthum odoratum, or sweet-scented vernal 

 'grass, and some others, there are but two anthers, while 

 some few species have more than three. In general, 

 the flowers are hermaphrodite ; but in certain genera 

 they are monoecious, as in Zea and Zizania; and in 

 others they are polygamous, as in Andropogon and 

 Sorghum. The grasses are, for the most part, low and 

 herbaceous ; but the Arundo Donax of Southern Europe, 

 and the sugar cane and bamboo of the tropics are lofty 

 strong-growing plants, the latter reaching as much as 

 50 or 60 feet in height. The stems and leaves of the 

 grass family are strengthened by silex ; many of them 

 are so entirely coated with it, that their leaves are 

 as sharp as the edge of a knife. It gives hardness 

 to the beards of wheat and barley, and is often found 

 in concrete masses, called tabasheer, in the joints of 

 bamboos, which in the Indian jungles have been set on 

 fire by the friction of their silicious coats during a gale 



