CLASS TRIANDEIA. 
135 
on the indented stem, or racliis, each calyx containing three or 
four flowers : the central ones, for want of room to expand, aie 
rendered infertile, the two outer ones only producing grain. 
The calyx glume, from the magnitude of the seed, becomes broad 
and boat-shaped, terminated simply by a point, or else by an 
awn ; the larger valve of the corolla also ends in a bristle. 
Nearly all the wheat cultivated is of but one species, and now 
known to produce many permanent varieties. The plants of 
the grass family w^hich are used as food for man are wheat, rye, 
barley, and Indian corn ; the latter is separated from its natural 
alliances by the artificial system, and placed in the class Mo- 
noecia, because the stamens and pistils are found in different 
flowers growing from the same root. The styles, long, slender, 
and exserted^ form what is called the silh j they are thus favor- 
ably situated for receiving the fertilizing pollen which is show- 
ered down from the staminate flowers. 
176. The fruit of wheat, rye, &c., is called grain. Grain con- 
sists of the seed with its pericarp; these are not easily distin- 
guished from each other till the grain is ground into flour ; the 
pericarp separating from the seed then forms what is called the 
Iran; and the seed, the flour or meal. The sugar-cane (Sac- 
CHARUM officinai'UTnf^) is supposed to have been brought from 
the South of Europe to the West Indies. The stem or culm, 
which sometimes grows to the hight of twenty feet, affords the 
juice from which sugar is made. The bamboo (Akundo hamhos) 
of the East Indies is a species of reed, which is said to attain 
in some situations the hight of sixty feet. 
The sedge ( Carex) is a gramine- 
ous plant, but as it bears stamin- 
ate and pistillate flowers, is placed 
in the class Monoecia. The carices 
(plural of carex) constitute a very- 
numerous family of plants. 
Fig. 131 represents two magni- 
fied flowers of the orchard-grass 
(Dactylis glomerata);jf at a is a ca- 
lyx:j:composedof two valves; these 
are coripressed, keeled,^ acute ; one 
valve is shorter than the valves 
of the flowers, the other longer ; 
the calyx is common to the two 
flowers ; h shows the valves of the Corollas ; they are oblong and acute ; c repre- 
• See Appendix, Plate ii. Fig. 2. 
+ Glomerata signifies a cluster, alluding to the crowded panicles of flowers. 
X The parts of the calyx, and also of the corolla, are sometimes called glumes ; they are all much 
Ulike in appearance, being merely a set of sheaths, for the purpose of protecting the stamens : they ara 
not distinguished by any difference in color from the leaves or stem. The anthers, which are usually 
yellow, are the only part of the flower of the grasses which is colored. 
§ Resembling the keel of a boat. 
What is said of ladian cora2 — Grain — Sugar-cane — Bamboo — S«dge1 — What does Fig. 131 repro 
tent? 
