236 FARM GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 
THE GRASS FLOWER 
The seed-head of the true grasses is of two general 
patterns. One is seen in the head of wheat, barley, 
timothy, etc. This form of seed-head is called a spike 
(see Fig. 50). Examination of a head of wheat shows 
that it consists of a number of ‘‘ meshes’’ arranged in 
two rows on opposite sides of a central stem. These 
meshes consist of from three to five flowers each, 
arranged in a compact cluster called a spikelet (Fig. 
51). In the timothy head the spikelets are not 
arranged in two opposite rows, but are scattered over 
an enlarged continuation of the stem. 
A very different pattern of seed-head is found in 
oats, Kentucky blue-grass, and the like. The flowers 
‘of these are grouped in spikelets, but the spikelets are 
not arranged on a single stem. They are found at the 
tips of the many branches of the stem. This much- 
branched form of seed-head is called a panicle (Fig. 52). 
Let us now examine more closely one of the small 
spikelets found at the tip of a branch of a blue-grass 
panicle. Fig. 51 shows one of these spikelets very 
much enlarged. Apparently it consists of seven parts 
very much alike. In reality the two lower divisions 
are merely two empty chaff-like leaves. The remain- 
ing five parts are complete flowers, having enclosed 
within each the organs that are seen in the expanded 
flower shown in Fig. 53. The names of these parts of 
a spikelet are shown in Fig. 51. The flowers of the 
true grasses are called florets. 
The parts of a single floret are well shown in Fig. 
53. First, there is the leaf-like floral glume, very much 
like the empty glume at the base of the spikelet. 
