THE BRACTS AND FLOWERS. 85 



In Pnnirinn, according to the Kuntlican terminology, the tirst 

 ininnto s(!iilo is a glunic, the Hccond, many times larger, is also a 

 glinno, the third, often jireeiseiy similar to the second, is not a 

 glnme, hnt a llower, and the fonrth, whether similar or more or 

 less dissimilar, is a i)art of a flower. In some graminca' there 

 arc additional empty glnmes, nsnally small and often different 

 in form, either innnediately below the flowering ones, as in 

 Aiitltdxaiithinn and P/iuhwis, or at the end of the spikelet, as in 

 Jli'Iica. These liave no pretensions to he flowers at all. In 

 some genera, as in Uniahi, from three to six of the lower 

 glnmes are empty, and precisely similar to each other, and yet 

 we arc only allowed to call the two lowest ones glnmes, the others 

 are termed flowers. We are not even allowed to define glumes 

 as the two lowest scales of the si)ikelet ; for that of Lcei'sia, 

 which has two glumes, one empty, the other flowering, is 

 described as having no glumes but two flowers. In Kyllinija and 

 Coiirtoisia, in Cypercaetv, where the fruit is similarly enclosed 

 in two glumes, they are correctly described as such, one empty, 

 the other a flowering one. 



The so-called upper palea is neither homologous nor similar to 

 tlie so-called lower palea or flowering glume. It is inserted on 

 the axis of the flower, and not on that of the spikelet, as may be 

 seen in cultivated wheat. It is difTerently shaped, and having 

 instead of one central rib or keel two prominent nerves, it is 

 generally supposed to be a double organ composed of the union 

 of two scales. These two scales are jjrobably the homologues of 

 the two bracteoles of Hypohjtrum and Plafylejns. It is con- 

 venient to designate them by a special name, for which the gener- 

 ally received term palea is not inappropriate, and commits one to 

 no special theory in regard to it. "It appears to me that flowering 

 glume and palea is not more cumbrous than the deceptive one 

 lower palea and upper palea. " 



The two or rarely three small scales above the palea and 



