26 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 
entire plant, each bunch or locusta of flowers being but a 
grass in minature, consisting of a central axis or stem with 
its alternately arranged leaves, the stamens, pistils, and 
seeds in the axils of which are but buds; this fact may at 
once be seen in viviparous specimens, such as are often 
found in the Lolium perenne (perennial rye-grass) and 
Cynosurus cristatus (crested dog’s-tail), in which, instead 
of flowers, we have complete buds, which we have indeed 
detached and grown as distinct plants of their respective 
species. 
Now, in these examples the case is very different from 
that of germination in the ear which takes place in laid and 
damp wheat, as in the latter the seeds have been perfected, 
and germination takes place from heat and moisture in the 
usual manner; but in viviparous growth the envelopes and 
their organs, instead of growing seeds on the principle of 
arrested development, go on growing into branches, and no 
seed is consequently perfected. 
Flowers consist of the following parts :— 
Glume —outer chaff-scales 
Glumel =inner chaff-scales 
clit } Fertilizing organs. 
; Floral envelopes. 
Seeds = grain = reproductive organs. 
Floral envelopes, upon the theory just enunciated, consist 
of metamorphosed leaves; they are arranged in pairs, and 
each scale starts from an opposite side of the central axis, 
but not from the same point. The outer pair subserves the 
same use as the calyx in other plants, and receives the name 
of calyx-glume; the inner pair, or pairs—for sometimes 
several occur in a single glume—is termed glwmel, and the 
pieces of which either are formed obtain the name of valves, 
the lower one being the outer and the upper one the inner 
of each respectively. 
The glumes differ in shape, and in the presence or absence 
of longitudinal lines or rids; it may be large enough to 
include or conceal the glumel, or it may be considerably 
