6 Mr. Woods on t)ie Genera of European Grasses. 



which I adopt. He does not seem to have found it necessary to assign a 

 name for the two together. I shall willi Linnoetis term it a corolla, but 

 composed of two paleœ instead of petals. Tliis nomenclature seems more 

 unobjectionable than that of calyx to the outer covering; and if Mr. BroMn 

 has not absolutely proved, he has at least shown it to be highly probable that 

 these parts are analogous to tlie outer series of a hexapetalous corolla. 



AwN. Attached to the outer palea we frequently find an awn, whose presence 

 nature and position are often very useful in determining species, and sometimes 

 in characterizing genera. Pali sot de Beauvois maintains that two organs es- 

 sentially distinct liave been confounded under this name. To one of them he 

 applies the name of seta, and describes it as the pr()h)ngation of a nerve, 

 whose base forms \ydvt of the substance of the pale;e. It is not necessary that 

 it should accompany the paleœ for the whole length of the latter, but may 

 divide from it in any part. The awn originates suddenly from the substance 

 of the palea, and if there should be a nerve below, it is much smaller than the 

 awn, and is considered to be prolonged into a sefa embraced by the awn 

 and adheiing closely to it. When broken off, the awn leaves behind no trace 

 of its existence. Neither Dnby nor Kunth seems to acknowledge this distinc- 

 tion. Gandin adopts it with some modifications. P. de Beauvois has added 

 to the above characters thtit the aivn is stronger than tlie sefa, and of a firmer 

 texture. Gandin, on the conti'ary, shows that the atvn is frequently as fine, 

 tender and delicate as any sefa, as in ^ira and Jgrosf'is, which are acknow- 

 ledged to be awned by P. de Beauvois himself; and, on the other hand, in 

 Trlf'icum, where both authors are agreed that the terminating point is a sefa, 

 it is firm and thick, so that few awns can exceed it. He takes, therefore, 

 principally for his guide its fragility at the point of insertion. P. de Beauvois 

 assigns a seta to Fesfuca and Brachypocliam, and an awn to Bromiis. Gandin 

 considers all these genera as setigerous. The nature of the arm may doubt- 

 less afford sometimes a very useful distinction, but I am afraid it will be 

 impossible to regard it as including two things which can always be clearly 

 distinguished. The seta is a mere continuation of the midrib. The awn is 

 something different or something more ; the peculiarity pointed out by Gan- 

 din will usually explain its nature. 



Scales ; Squamul.e. Within the outer paleœ, but without the stamens, are 



