60 



Botanical Section 



[ft I 



so afterwards. Blade rolled in the shod, rather thin, broadest 

 just above its base: acuminate above, and forming rounded 

 collar-like ledges below where it joins the sheath; both surfaces 

 dull. Ribs on upper surface low, fiat and broad. Ligule variable 

 in length, but always blunt. There is no keel to the sheath but 

 a slight one is present on the lower half of the blade. No auricles. 



Fig. 42. Plants of Aim flexuo?a (left) and Aim caryophyllea (right). About 

 ^ nat. size. N.B. The photograph is of specimens which had been dried, and 

 the bent condition of A. fiexuosa is unnatural. 



Flowers in April and May ; culms smooth, 1 to 3 feet high ; 

 panicle cylindrical, spike-like, 1-3 inches long. Spikelets on very 

 short branches, one-flowered, ovate. Flowers proterogvnous. 



The "seeds" consist of the entire ripened spikelets. Empty 



