Grasses 165 
Meantime we call these little green affairs 
‘‘bracteoles” when they stand beside the florets of 
the yarrow and ‘flowering glumes’’ and ‘‘ paleae”’ 
when they enclose the tiny blossoms of the grasses. 
But they occupy a similar post in the plant 
economy everywhere. They are humble attend- 
ants upon the true flowers, standing close by as if 
to guard and screen them. 
We shall see the oat-blossom itself when the 
flowering glume has been removed. Its most con- 
spicuous parts are a pistil and three stamens. The 
anthers are large, as in all the grasses, and they 
are balanced like see-saw boards, on the tips of 
slender filaments. 
So they oscillate and sway at the faintest 
breath, shaking their pollen out to the wind. The 
filaments, which are as fine as gossamer, are also 
stirred by the faintest zephyr. 
And, lastly, the spikelet itself dangles at the 
end of a delicate stalk, which forms part of an 
open, swaying flower-cluster. So the wind has its 
will with the oat-blossoms, and its force is used to 
the utmost in shaking the stamens and scattering 
the pollen. The pollen is light and dry, so that 
it can readily be detached from the anthers, and 
blown away 
