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cese ; the former by approaching Cyperacese, the latter Grasses. Where, as 
in Xyridacese, there is a distinct coloured perianth, the imbricated glumaceous 
bracts that surround it sufficiently point out this group. 
Order CCLXVII. GRAMINEJE, 1 
or I The Grass Tribe. 
GRAMINACEiE.J 
Gramina, Juss. Gen. 28. (1789). — Gramine/e, R. Brown Prodr. 168. (1810) ; Palisot de 
Beauv. Agrostog. (1812) ; Kunth in Mem. Mus. 2. 62. (1815) ; Id. in N. G. et Sp. 
Humb. et Bonpl. 1. 84. (1815) ; Turpin in Mem. Mus. 5. 426. (1819) ; Trinius 
Fundam. Agrostol. (1820) ; Agardh Aphor. 143. (1823) ; Kunth Synops. 1. 163. 
(1823) ; Dumortier Agrost. Belg. (1823); Trinius Diss. de Gram. Unifi. et Sesquif. 
(1824) ; De la Harpe in Ann. Sc. 5. 335. 6. 21. (1825) ; Raspail in Ann. desSc. 4. 
271. 422. 5. 287. 433. 6. 224. 384. (1825), 7. 335. (1826) ; Link Hortus Botanicus 
1. (1827); Lindl. Synops. 223.(1829); Nees v. Esenbeck A grostog. Brasil. (1829) ; 
Kunth Enum. pi. vol. 1 et 2. (1833-4) ; Nees v. Esenbeck in Linncea, 9. 461. (1835). 
Essential Character. — Flowers usually hermaphrodite, sometimes monoecious or 
polygamous ; consisting of imbricated bracts, of which the most exterior are called glumes, 
the interior immediately enclosing the stamens palece, and the innermost at the base of the 
ovarium scales. Glumes usually 2, alternate ; sometimes single, most commonly unequal. 
Palece 2, alternate ; the lower or exterior simple, the upper or interior composed of 2 uni- 
ted by their contiguous margins, and usually with 2 keels, together forming a kind of dis- 
located calyx. Scales 2 or 3, sometimes wanting ; if 2, collateral, alternate with the paleee, 
and next the lower of them ; either distinct or united. Stamens hypogynous, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 
or more, 1 of which alternates with the 2 hypogynous scales, and is therefore next the 
lower palea ; anthers versatile. Ovary simple ; styles 2, very rarely 1 or 3 ; stigmas feathery 
or hairy. Pericarp usually undistinguishable from the seed, membranous. Albumen fari- 
naceous ; embryo lying on one side of the albumen at the base, lenticular, with abroad coty- 
ledon and a developed plumula ; and occasionally, but very rarely, with a second cotyledon 
on the outside of the plumula, and alternate with the usual cotyledon. — Rhizoma fibrous or 
bulbous. Culms cylindrical, usually fistular, closed at the joints, covered with a coat of 
silex. Leaves alternate, with a split sheath. Flowers in little spikes called locustce, ar- 
ranged in a spiked, racemed, or panicled manner. 
Affinities. This family is one which offers more singularities in its or- 
ganisation than any other among flowering plants, although it is one in which, 
formerly, botanists the least suspected anomalies of organisation to exist. They 
found calyx and corolla and nectaries here with the same facility as they found 
them in a Ranunculus ; and yet it may be doubted whether such organs exist 
in any one genus of Grasses. 
Before I advert to the affinities of this tribe, it is indispensable that the 
real nature of this organisation should be understood. I shall, therefore, 
without occupying myself with the views of Linnaeus and his school, first cite 
Brown’s account of the structure of Grasses, and then proceed to offer 
some observations upon the views that other botanists have taken of the 
subject. 
Brown’s statement is this : — 
“ The natural or most common structure of Gramineae is to have their 
sexual organs surrounded by the floral envelopes, each of which usually 
consist of two distinct valves ; but both of these envelopes are, in many 
genera of the order, subject to various degrees of imperfection or even sup- 
pression of their parts. The outer envelope, or gluma of Jussieu, in most 
cases containing several flowers with distinct and often distant insertions on 
a common receptacle, can only be considered as analogous to the bracteae 
or involucrum of other plants. The tendency to suppression in this envelope 
B B 
