96 



FLORAL DIAGRAMS 



[CH. 



be explained. Much discussion has been held regarding 

 the lodicules. Functionally they are said to aid in the 

 divarication of the paleae when the period of anthesis 

 arrives, and the stamens and stigmatic lobes are to be 



Q— «■ 



cy-a 



Fig. 35. Floral diagram of ordi- Fig. 36. Floral diagram of a 



nary grass. Each pair of 

 palese — i.'p. inner and o.f. 

 outer palea — encloses three 

 stamens (s), two lodicules (i) 

 and the ovary, st, stigmatic 

 plumes, a, axis. 



Bamboo, showing six stamens, 

 three inner (i.s.) and three 

 outer (a.s^, and three lodi- 

 cules (I) in addition to the 

 ovary, i.j}. inner and o.y. 

 outer palea. u, axis. 



exposed, by swelling and driving the valve-like palese 

 apart. Morphologically they have been explained as 

 representing the rudimentary perianth, here reduced to 

 two minute scales, but in some exotic grasses {Bambusa, 

 Stipa, &c.) three lodicules, or even more, are present. 

 (Figs. 35, 36.) On the other hand they may be, and 

 probably are, scales of the nature of minute bracteoles 

 and of no significance to the flower itself 



If this is so the flower of the grass is perfectly naked, 



