Vl] BARREN AND FERTILE FLOWERS 89 



In the first (Nardus) and third examples {Gynosurus, 

 Bactylis) where the spikelets are turned to one side, the 

 inflorescence is said to be secund. 



The next point to notice is that not every grass has 

 so many as two fertile flowers and one barren one in 

 its spikelet, as the Oat has. A spikelet may have one 

 (Phleum), two (Aira) or three (Avena) or more (Poo) 

 fertile flowers, and no barren ones or several, the number 

 of flowers being counted by the number of pairs of pales 

 found inside the pair of glumes. Moreover every flower 

 is not necessarily fertile (e.g. Arrhenatherum, Holcus) and 

 several grasses have one or more flowers in each spikelet 

 containing stamens only — male flowers — while others may 

 have ovaries only — female flowers. In some exotics the 

 male and female flowers are on different parts of the same 

 plant (Maize) or even on different plants (Gynerium), 

 an arrangement not met with in our grasses. Accordingly, 

 it is of importance in determining a grass to discover how 

 many flowers the spikelet contains, and whether any are 

 male only, or barren, &c., as well as to make out the 

 character of its inflorescence. 



In the following lists I have brought together some of 

 the chief points with illustrative examples. 



Spikelets with only one perfect flower (without 

 rudimentary ones). 



And species of the rare grasses Galatnagrostis, Mibora, 



