262 LETTER XXII. 



its long and plumed beards, and Catstail-grasses 

 ( Phleum ), with two equal sharp-pointed glumes ; 

 Canary-grass (Phalaris), too, with whose grains your 

 Canary birds are fed, and whose glumes have each a 

 flat keel like a little boat, and Foxtail-grasses (Alope- 

 curus), which differ from the Catstails in having a 

 beard to their single palea. In the Catstails, Canary- 

 grasses, and Foxtails you will not recognize at first a 

 branched inflorescence, for two of them derive their 

 names from the compact appearance their flowers pre- 

 sent. But if you separate the flowers gently, you will 

 find that they are in reality seated upon little branches, 

 which are pressed so closely together that you do not 

 see them. 



Another group of Grasses has the spikelets really 

 seated close to the stem ; as for instance Wheat, Barley, 

 and Rye ; while a fourth kind has the stamens in one 

 kind of flower and the pistils in another : of this kind 

 is Maize, or Indian Corn, In that plant the barren 

 flowers are loose yellow branches, growing at the top 

 of the stem, and covered with anthers, while the fertile 

 flowers are hidden among the lower leaves, and are 

 only discovered by their long shining styles, which 

 hang down in tufts like silken tassels. 



The other natural order of Glumaceous Monocoty- 

 ledons, which I propose to mention to you is that 

 which comprehends Sedges, after which it is named. 

 In its general appearance it resembles Grasses ; but it 

 is known by its stems being solid, not hollow (Plate 

 XXII. 2. Jig. 2.), and by its leaf-stalks, when they 

 roll round the stem, growing together by their edges 



