BOTANY. 67 
place by a single central and terminal bud; occasionally lateral buds are 
produced, and at times the stem is hollow. The leaves are parallel-veined, 
except in the sub-class Dictyogens, where a kind of reticulation is visible. 
The parts of the flower are arranged in a ternary manner, and they are 
often petaloid, sometimes scaly or glumaceous. The ovules are contained 
in an ovary, and are fertilized by the application of the pollen to the 
stigma. The embryo has one cotyledon, and the germination is 
endorhizal. 
Sub-class 1. Glumacee. 
Flowers glumaceous, consisting of bracts or scales, which are imbricated, 
and not arranged in true whorls. . Leaves with parallel veins. 
Orpver 10. Gramine#, the grass family. Flowers usually %, sometimes 
unisexual or polygamous; one, two, or more (some occasionally abortive) 
are attached to a common axis, and inclosed within bracts, the whole 
together forming a locusta or spikelet. The outer imbricated bracts are 
called glumes; they are usually two, sometimes one, rarely wanting, and 
often unequal. They are either awned (aristate) or awnless (muticous). 
The bracts inclosed within the glumes are called pales or glumelle ; they 
immediately inclose the stamens, are usually two, the lower being simple, 
and the upper being formed of two, united by their margins. The 
innermost set of bracts consist of two or three hypogynous scales 
(squamule, glumellule, or lodiculz), which are either distinct or 
combined, and are sometimes wanting. Stamens hypogynous, from one to 
six, or more; anthers dithecal, versatile. Ovary simple; ovule ascending, 
anatropal; styles, two or three, sometimes united; stigmas feathery or 
hairy. Fruit a caryopsis. Seed incorporated with the pericarp; embryo 
lenticular, lymg on one side of the farinaceous albumen, near its base ; 
endorhizal in germination. Herbaceous plants, with cylindrical, hollow, 
and jointed stems, called culms; alternate leaves, with a split sheath and a 
membranous expansion at the junction of the petiole and blade, called a 
ligule, the collection of flowers (locust) being arranged in spikes, racems, 
or panicles. 
Grasses are found in all quarters of the globe, and are said to form about 
z's part of known plants. In tropical regions they sometimes assume the 
appearance of trees. They generally grow in great quantity together, so 
as to receive the name of social plants. The order has been divided into 
numerous sections, founded on the number of flowers in a spikelet, their 
hermaphrodite, unisexual, or polygamous nature, the number and form of 
the different sets of bracts, and the nature of their fruit. 
This is one of the most important orders in the vegetable kingdom, 
whether we regard it as supplying food for man, or herbage for animals. 
To the former division belong the nutritious cereal grains, as wheat 
(Triticum), Oats (Avena), Barley (Hordeum), Rye (Secale), Rice (Oryza), 
Maize (Zea), Guinea-corn and Millet (Sorghum and Panicum); to the 
latter the various pasture grasses, as Rye-grass (Lolium), Timothy-grass 
67 
