14 BRITISH GRASSES. 



of the ovary are equivalent to the nectaries of other 

 plants. 



The styles are generally two, united in many instances 

 for some distance from the base, then diverging ; they 

 are situated in most species on the summit of the ovary, 

 but occasionally they take their rise lower dow r n. They 

 are generally curled and feathery, in some foreign species 

 so much so as to give a very striking appearance to the 

 panicle. The ovary varies little in form, being generally 

 round or oval, but sometimes enlarged above, so as to be 

 top-shaped. 



In nearly all the British genera the flowers are perfect, 

 having both styles and stamens, or they are rudimentary 

 or barren ; but in foreign species the flowers are often 

 distinctly of the different sexes on the same plant, and 

 these are accompanied by a fair proportion of hermaphro- 

 dite flowers. In our English grasses the occurrence of 

 a male flower in the same spikelet with a perfect one is 

 very frequent, but we do not find male, female, and per- 

 fect ones on the same plant. 



In many species the midrib of the glume or of the 

 palea is prolonged beyond the summit ; this is called an 

 awn. The awn arises either from the summit, the centre 

 or the base, or from any part of the midrib of these 

 glumes or palese ; it is straight, twisted, smooth, or bristly, 

 and of every variety of length. 



The fruit is one-seeded, called a grain ; the husk or 

 pericarp surrounds the seed, and sometimes the palea 

 adheres to it, so that it remains enfolded between the 

 flowering glume and the palea. The grain is round, oval, 

 oblong or pointed in form, and smooth or downy in tex- 

 ture. 



