THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
69 
which formed in the axils of the leaves, drop off, sink in 
water, and next spring come forth as new plants. 
Brown University, Providence, R. I. 
BOTANY FOR BEGINNERS— XIX. 
ORDER III— THE GRAMINALES. 
The grasses and sedges which form the great order 
Graminales are at once so common and so characteristic 
in form, that they are readily recognized by even those 
who make no claim to botanical knowledge. To recog- 
nize a member of the order, however, is one thing and to 
identify the species is quite another as many a young 
botanist has learned after much time and labor. The 
flowering parts upon which identification chiefly depends 
are so little like ordinary flowers that the young student 
scarcely knows where to begin, and he usually rests with 
calling them simply grasses or sedges, as the case may be. 
Although grasses and sedges are much alike upon super-, 
ficial examination, it is usually not difficult to distinguish 
between the two. The grasses generally have cylindrical 
hollow stems — or culms as the^^ are called in this family — 
while the sedges have three cornered solid stems. Along 
with this difference in structure goes a curious difference in 
usefulness to man, the grasses being of the greatest value 
as food while the sedges are of no use whatever. Even 
grazing animals avoid them. 
THE GRASSES (GRAMINE^). 
The grasses form one of the largest of plant families , 
About three hundred genera and thirty-five hundred 
species are known. The group has a world-wide distribu- 
tion, and while the Tropics contain the greater number of 
species, temperate regions more than overbalance this by 
the greaf development of individuals which there grow so 
thickly as to form a compact sod' or turf over large areas. 
With the exception of a few species in the Tropics which,, 
like the bamboos, take on a tree-like form the members of 
the group are herbaceous and mostly perennial. The 
immense importance of the grasses to man maybe realized 
