478 



BOTANY 



hairs. (2) Oaricoideae. Flowers unisexual, always naked ; the female with an 

 enveloping, tubular subtending bract (utriculus). Carex. 



Geographical Distribution. — The Cypercu:eae or Sedge Family are represented 

 throughout the world, growing frequently in damp meadows, in marshes, and along 

 the margins of streams. They are worthless as fodder plants on account of their 

 hard leaves. The genus Carex is the most common and comprises the greatest 

 number of species. The family contains no plants of economic value. The papyrus 

 used by the ancient Egyptians was made of thin strips of the firm pith of Cyperus 



Family Gramineae. — Flowers usually hermaphrodite, naked ; 



ovary monomerous, with a slightly CAMPYLOTROPOUS ovule ; pericarp 



, ADHERENT to the seed ; embryo with SCUTEL- 



LTJM, LATERALLY IN CONTACT WITH THE ENDO- 

 SPERM. Herbs, rarely shrubs or trees ; axes 

 with hollow internodes. Leaves two-ranked, 

 having usually a ligule and an open sheath 

 with a node-like thickening at the base. In- 

 florescences compound, consisting of spikelets 

 aggregated in spikes or panicles ; bracteoles 



Fig. 41S.-Floral diagram of PRESENT (FigS. 418-425). 



the Gramineae (Arena), in The Gramineae or true Grasses are for the 



SrZrLtK most part perennial herbs, with a profusely 

 present perigone leaves. The branched rhizome creeping horizontally in the 

 absent members are repre- so il, and giving rise to sterile shoots in the 

 form of tufts of leaves, and also to fertile shoots, 



which are usually unbranched but provided with leaves, and divided 



throughout their whole length into internodes. The annual species of 



Gramineae are not so numerous ; they do not have rhizomes nor form the 



sterile tufts ; shrub- or tree-like forms are still 



less frequent. A membranous ligule is always 



developed at the junction of the lamina with 



the leaf- sheath (Fig. 420, I). The inflores- 

 cences of the Gramineae in their entirety are 



spike-, raceme-, or panicle-like in character, and 



are always composed of an aggregation of 



secondary inflorescences or spikelets (Fig. 



419). Each spikelet usually bears several 



flowers, and also a number of bracts arranged 



in two rows. The two lower bracts, less 



frequently the three lower of each spikelet, are 



sterile, and are known as GLUMES. These are 



followed by a varying number of fertile bracts 



subtending flowers, and termed inferior 



palEyE, sometimes also called flowering glumes. 



The inferior or outer palese are often pro- 

 longed into awns. Immediately below the flower the short flower- 



Fig. 419. — Diagrammatic repre- 

 sentation of a Grass spikelet. 

 g, The glumes ; pi and po> 

 the inferior and superior 

 palea ; c , lodicules ; B, flower. 



