GRASSES ire 
a grass really contains the true fruit together with the 
husk (the flowering glume and palea). A grass “seed ” is 
therefore improperly named, and is in no way comparable 
with true seeds such as those of the Pea, the Violet, the 
Wall-flower, &c. 
Spikelets and Inflorescences. Examine either 
Red Top (Bent grass—A grostis vulgaris) or Fiorin Grass, 
when in flower. Note the small spikelets, and that each 
Fig. 61.—Fiorin grass; panicle Fig. 62. Meadow Foxtail. 
inflorescence. 
has but a single flower (one-flowered spikelet). Notice 
the branching at the top of the culm; several whorls of 
delicate branches come off from the main axis of the culm, 
and they may branch again and even again. Lach ulti- 
mate branch bears a small spikelet, and all the spikelets 
are stalked. Note the ligule. 
The arrangement of flowers or of spikelets on a 
flowering axis or on its branches is called an inflor- 
escence.. In Red Top the branched inflorescence is 
