IV 



or below each other, the lower one partially overlapping and en- 

 closing the base of the upper. 



The outermost scales investing the flowers of a Grass are termed 

 Glumes, from the Latin glwma, husk or chaff; there are usually 

 two of them, but in some instances only one, and in different 

 Grasses they contain either one, two, or several flowers. Each 

 flower considered apart, consists of two scales, or, rarely, of one 

 only J these are, generally, shorter and of a thinner texture than 

 the Glumes, and are called Palese, a Latin word nearly synonymous 

 with gluma. Arising from the back of the Glumes and Palese, we 

 frequently find a peculiar bristle- or hair-like process, denominated 

 an Awn, an appendage which in some Grasses is of considerable 

 length : examples of the Awn, on the back of the Palea, may be 

 seen in the Fox-tail Grasses, Plates IV. to IX., magnified figures 

 b ; and in the Feather Grass, Plate XXII., in which its great ulti- 

 mate length and condition constitute the most striking feature of 

 the species. 



Within the Palese are the Stamens, the male organs of the 

 flower ; each of these consists of a slender thread, called the Fila- 

 ment, bearing a broader, usually oblong, coloured body attached 

 transversely on its summit — this is the Anther, which, in all the 

 Grasses, is notched at both ends, and, owing to its attachment by 

 the middle to the point of the Filament, upon which it turns as on 

 a pivot, it is said to be versatile. 



The number of Stamens contained in each flower is usually three 

 but in many of the Grasses of warm climates there are six, or even 

 a greater number ; while in a few instances we fimd only one or 

 two. The Sweet-scented Vernal Grass, Plate I., is the only 

 British species in which all the flowers have constantly only two 

 Stamens; though a similar deficiency from the normal number 

 occurs among those of certain others, in which some oi the flowers 

 present three Stamens, while others have but two or rarelv 

 one only. 



