22 
KEY AND FLORA 
Scapes erect, becoming longer than the leaves, cylindrical, 
spongy. Flowers bisexual, in paniculate, 3-bracted umbels, 
Fic. 2. Diagrammatic 
representation of a 
several-flowered 
grass spikelet 
g, g’, the glumes; p, 
p’, the palets ; 7, lod- 
icules; f, a flower. 
The axis is much 
lengthened, to sep- 
arate the flowers. 
(After Schimper) 
Fic. 3. Spike-like 
panicle of ver- 
nal grass (An- 
a, mature anthers. 
(Slightly enlarged) 
small, white or pink. 
Stamens 6-9. Ovaries 
numerous in one or more 
whorls on a flat recepta- 
cle. Fruit 1-seeded akenes 
which are ribbed on the 
back and sides.* 
1. A. Plantago-aquatica L. 
Water PLANTAIN. Peren- 
nial; root fibrous. Leaves 
ovate or somewhat cordate, 
5-7-nerved when erect, float- 
ing leaves narrower and 
sometimes linear. Scapes 
usually single; panicle 1-2 
ft. long ; flowering branches 
whorled, subtended by three 
narrow, striate bracts; pedi- 
cels slender, elongated. Ova- 
ries 15-20 in a single whorl; 
base of the short style per- 
sistent, forming a beak at 
the inner angle of the akene. 
Akenes obliquely obovate, 
2-3-keeled on the back. 
Common in ponds and 
muddy places.* 
4. GRAMINEZ. Grass 
Family 
Mostly herbs, with usu- 
ally hollow stems, closed 
and enlarged at the nodes. 
Leaves alternate, in two ranks, with sheathing bases, which 
are split open on the side opposite the blade. Flowers nearly 
or quite destitute of floral envelopes, solitary, and borne in 
the axils of scaly bracts, which are arranged in two ranks 
