GRAMINACE^ 



183 



Fig. 234. — A flower of 

 Wheat enclosed in its two 

 paleas. 



Fig. 235. — Diagram of 

 flower of Wheat. 



no flowers in their axils j they constitute, in fact, a small 

 involucre. Above them, on the spikelet axis, are bracts which 



form two rows, have single flowers in 



their axils, and are termed flowerifig 



glumes or lower pales or palea {P-^, P„, 



Ps, -Pi, P,). These 



latter alternate as A 



do the glumes, so 



that the first or 



lowest of them (P^) 



stands above the 



lower glume (G) : 



the second {P2) is 



inserted on the op- 

 posite side of the 



axis and is above 



the upper glume 



(g). The flowering 



glumes, and ' less 

 frequently the barren glumes, may have their mid-ribs con- 

 tinued into a tail-like " awn." 

 There are from three to five 

 flowering glumes and flowers 

 in a spikelet of the wheat. 

 The flower-stalk is scarcely 

 perceptible, but, as is usual 

 amongst Monocotyledons, it 

 bears a single prophyll (p) 

 which is typically on the face 

 (posterior) towards the in- 

 florescence-axis. This pro- 

 phyll is scale-like, and is 

 termed the upper pale or 

 upper palea. Each flower 

 (fig. 234) lies partially hidden 

 between its prophyll (the 

 upper pale) and its sub- 

 tending bract (the flowering 

 glume). Itis important to note 

 that each flowering glume 

 is on the axis of the spikelet, and is usually one-ribbed : 



Fig. 236. — Dissected parts of flower of 

 Wheat with the lodicules, and two investing 

 paleae. The ovary (pv) is cut vertically, and 

 shows one ovule {o). 



