GRASSES 81 
prevented from flowering and fruiting. Examine a culm 
of this grass; note the leaf folded in the bud (compare 
Cocksfoot in this respect), the prominent obliquely truncate 
ligule, the paniculate inflorescence, the three- or four- 
flowered spikelets, and the webbing of tangled hairs at 
the back of each flowering glume. The glumes are without 
awns. Poa pratensis is an early grass. It is a very 
permanent grass in pastures, and very undesirable in fields 
that are ploughed for cropping every few years. Every 
joint of the stolons is able to grow, so that the plant is 
exceedingly difficult to get rid of under cultivation. It is 
often called “couch grass ;”’ but this name should not be 
used, as the true “couch grass” of Great Britain is a kind 
of Agropyrum with the inflorescence a spike, and is much 
more like a rye grass than like a Poa. 
Maize or Indian Corn. Maize is a native of South 
America and was cultivated by the American Indians long 
before the New World was discovered. It is the tallest 
and stoutest of the cultivated cereals. 
Observe its large long shining succulent leaves and its 
numerous nodes. Cut down the stem and note that it is 
hollow like ordinary grasses. When in flower make out the 
remarkable double inflorescence—the female and the male. 
The female inflorescence is produced in the angles or axils 
of the middle leaves of the stem; the male inflorescence is 
produced at its top. Note the thin leafy overlapping 
bracts that enclose and protect the female inflorescence. 
This consists of a club-shaped body called the “cob,” 
apparently formed of a number of spikes that have grown 
together. No other grass has an inflorescence like it. Each 
cob bears many rows of female flowers (pistils or ovaries). 
Note the long thread-like styles projecting from the top of 
the enclosing bracts and springing from the ovaries of the 
cob. The styles are all papillose (covered with minute 
B 
