10 SELECTED WESTERN FLORA 



1. ELODEA. Wateb-weed. 



Flowers dioecious, or the fertile bearing stamens; sterile flowers 

 ininute, the fertile ones larger, with a 6-parted perianth. Slender, 

 submerged, perennial herbs with somewhat transparent veinless 

 leaves arranged opposite or in whorls. 



1. E. canadensis, Miehx. Canadian Wateb-weed. 



Leaves linear to oval ; stamens 9 in sterile flowers, 3 or 6 sessile anthers in 

 the fertile; a good aquarium plant, not uncommon on the bottom of slow- 

 running or still water. (Anacharis canadensis of Planchon), Man. and west- 

 ward. 



X. GRAMInE.<E (Grass Family). 



Herbs with hollow stems, closed at the nodes, 

 and two-ranked parallel- veined leaves; leaves 

 divided into blade and sheath, the sheath en- 

 veloping the stem with the edges overlapping; 

 flowers small, perfect, without distinct perianth, 

 and arranged in spikelets consisting of a short 

 axis, or rhachis, and 2-many bracts arranged 



Pj(j 10 Biagram ^^ *^° vertical ranks ; the two lowest bracts 



showing the struc- (glumes) empty, and each succeeding one 

 ture of a spikelet (lemma) bearing in its axil a single flowEir; the 

 of grass. flower usually subtended by another bract 



"' *'TeV- / fl™^' ^' (R^'^^*) '^*^ i*^ ^^^^ ^° *^^ rhachis of the 



' '._ ' spikelet, the two bracts enclosing the flower; 



floral envelopes wanting; stamens 3; ovary 1-celIed and 1-ovuled; 



fruit a caryopsis; spikelets arranged in spikes, racemes, or panicles. 



1. HORDEUM. Barley. 



Spikelet 1 or rarely 2-flowered, three together at each joint of the 

 flat-jointed rhachis, the centre one sessile, perfect, the lateral pair 

 usually pediceled, and generally reduced to awns ; the spikes becom- 

 ing disjointed at maturity, the joints fall with the spikelets attached. 



1. H. jubatum, L. Squirrel-tail or Skunk-tail Grass. '' 



Biennial, either erect, or with the stems declining at the base ; the lateral 

 pair of spikelets and the glumes of the perfect spikelet reduced to spreading 

 awns; spike nodding. Waste grounc} and damp prairie, often a troublesome 

 weed, and frequently, but wrongly, called fox- tail. Man.-AIta. 



