BOTANICAL CHARACTERS 



101 



The carpel consists of a roundish body called the 

 and a long, slender, soft thread called the style or "silk 

 46). Each ovary contains a 

 minute egg, called the ovule, 

 which, on fertilization by the 

 nucleus of the pollen -grain, 

 develops into a seed. 



The cob does not complete 

 its growth lengthwise before 

 the first silks are ready for pol- 

 lination. If the growth of the 

 plant is checked through lack 

 of sufficient moisture or plant- 

 food, or inclemency of the 

 season, the tip of the ear fails 

 to grow out, and the cob, in- 

 stead of being almost cylindri- 

 cal, may remain tapering in 

 shape through lack of develop- 

 ment. 



In "pod maize" (variety 

 tunicata) the glumes are large, 

 completely enclosing the ovary 

 and persisting around the ripe 

 grain (Fig. 51). In the varieties 

 usually under cultivation, how- 

 ever, the glumes, valve, and 

 palea (11 73J of the female 

 flower cease to function, and are 

 reduced to small rudiments 

 around the base of the carpel. 



The position of the ear on 

 the stem varies greatly in in- 

 dividual plants according to the 

 particular node from which the 

 shank (iT 81) is developed, and 

 according to the length of the 

 several internodes below it. 



Some positions are more desir- Fiq _ 5U _ PoA maize {Zca 

 able than others (see chap. v.). var. tunicata). 



ovary, 



CHAP. 

 IV. 



Mays 



