OP NAIAS GRAMINEAj VAR. DELILEI. 49 



the more numerous. The species is monoecious ; even in 

 those instances in which I found only female flowers on 

 the individual branch, I could not be sure that male 

 flowers had not been produced, or would not have been 

 produced later on. It was not usual, though by no means 

 infrequent, to find both sexes in the same fascicle, at equal 

 stages of development (figs. 67 & 68), and mature and 

 immature flowers enclosed by the same bract (see figs. 8i 

 &86). 



Fig. 69. 



The flowers begin to occur immediately within the axil 

 of the first pair of leaves in each fascicle, but there is 

 frequently an outlying pair of leaves below the fascicle 

 which does not contain flowers. The oldest flowers are 

 always at the base of the fascicle. When mature, the 

 fruits are plainly visible to the naked eye (see Delile^s 

 figure on Plate V. fig. 4), but they can be detected, when 

 present, by the touch. The female flowers are rarely 

 solitary, but occur in twos, threes, or fours ; in the earlier 



SEE. III. VOL. X. E 



