GRASS FAMILY. 353 



130. GRAMiNEiE3, GRASS FAMILY. 



Grasses, known fi'ora other glumaceous plants by their 2-ranked 

 leaves having open sheaths, the jointed stems commonly, but not 

 always hollow, and the glumes in pairs, viz. a pair to each spikelet 

 even when it consists of a single flower (these called glumes proper), 

 and a pair to each flower (called palets), rarely one of them want- 

 ing. Flower,. when perfect, as it more commonly is, consisting of 3 

 stamens (rarely 1, 2, or 6), and a pistil, with 2 styles or a 2-cIeft 

 style, and 2 either hairy or plumose-branched stigmas: ovary 1- 

 celled, 1-ovuled, becoming a grain : the floury part is the albumen 

 of the seed, outside of which lies the embryo (Lessons, p. 16, 17, 

 Vfig. 38-42). 



The real structure and arrangement of the flowers and spikelets 

 of Grasses are much too difficult and recondite for a beginner. For 

 their study the Manual must be used : in which the geriera both of 

 this and the Sedge Family are illustrated by plates. Here is offered 

 merely a shorthand way of reaching the names of the commonest 

 cultivated and meadow grasses and the cereal grains. 



A. Stems hollow, or soon becoming so. 

 § 1. Spikelets in panicles, sometimes crowded but never so as to firm a spike. 

 * Flowers monmcious, the staminate and pistillate separate in the same panicle. 



Zizd.ma ag[U^tica, Indian Rice or Watek Oats : in water, common- 

 est N. W. ; tall and reed-like Grass, with leaves almost a? . large , ps those of 

 Indian Corn, the upper part of the ample panicle bearing pistillate' flowers on 

 erect club-shaped pedicels, the lower bearing staminate flowers on spreading 

 branches ; each flower or spikelet with only one pair of glumes, the outer one 

 long-awned ; grain slender, ^' long, collected for food by N. W. Indians. ® 



* * Flowers one and perfect in each spikelet, with or without 'rudiments of others. 

 •t- Stamens 6. 



Or;5''za satlva, Rice. Cult. S., from Asia, in low grounds : 2° -4° high, 

 with upper surface of the lance-linear leaves rough ; branches of the panicle erect ; 

 outer glumes minute, the inner coriaceous, very muqh flattened laterally, so as 

 to be strongly boat-shaped or conduplicate, closing over the grain and falling 

 with it; the outer one commonly bearing an awn. (I) 

 ■1- -1- Stamens 3, or rareljf fewer. 



Agr6sti3 vulgaris, Red-top. Rather low and delicate grass of meadows 

 and pastures, with oblong spreading panicle of small purple or purplish spikelets ; 

 the lanceolate proper glumes thin, but much firmer than the delicate palets, 

 about the length of the outer one, the upper truncate palet one half shorter, y. 



A. dlba, FiOKiN or White Bent Gkass. Less abundant in meadows, 

 the stems with procumbent or creeping base ; ligule long and conspicuous ; 

 panicle more dense, greenish or slightly purplish : a valuable meadow-grass, y. 



Calamagrostis Canad^usis, Blue-Joint Grass. In all bogs N., and 

 in reclaimed low meadows, much liked by cattle : 3°-5° high ; resembles an Agros- 

 tis, but taller, and with a tuft of downy long hairs around the flower almost of 

 its length, the lower palet with a delicate awn low down on its back and scarcely 

 stouter than the surrounding down. y. 



C. areniria, Sea Sand-Reed of beaches, where it serves a useful pur- 

 pose in binding the sand by its long running rootstocks ; has the panicle con- 

 tracted into a lon!5 spike-like inflorescence, so that it would be sought in the 

 next division ; leaves long and strong ; spikelets pale, rather rigid, the hairs at 

 the base of the palets two thirds shorter than they. y. 

 S & F— 26 



