82 NEW ZEALAND NATURE-STUDY BOOK 
knobs) that they may catch the pollen the better. The 
male inflorescence is a terminal panicle with the spikelets 
sessile. (without stalks) and in pairs. The pollen shed from 
the ripe anthers is blown about and thus reaches the styles, 
Cross fertilisation must occur very frequently. . Examine a 
plant when the “cobs” are ripe and note how they are 
covered and protected by the husk—the tuft of dry, 
withered tough bracts. Owing to: this and the: hard 
polished surface of the grains, the ripe cobs and grains take 
no harm from bad weather, and may be safely left on the 
plants for many weeks after the crop is ripe. This makes 
the: harvesting of, Maize an easy affair. Examine a ripe 
“cob.” Note the numerous rows of “grains” reaching 
along the whole length of the core. Young Maize plants 
are often set out by hand, after they: have well started 
growth. This is because the plants grow very large and 
need to be kept a good space apart from each other. It 
also allows of their being kept in rows, an arrangement 
that makes weeding and hoeing easier. The dried leaves 
are sometimes used as fodder. : ‘. 
Annual and Perennial Grasses. Some grasses 
ripen seed every year and then die. These are called 
annual grasses, All the cereals belong to this class ; so do 
the common wayside meadow grass (Poa. annua), Ounhare 
Grass (Briza) and several weedy Fescues and Brome 
Grasses. Annual grasses are often very troublesome 
weeds, as they produce abundant “seed” that germinates 
quickly and certainly. Poa annua is one of the worst 
weeds of the garden. : 
Grasses that grow for more than: two years are called - 
Perennial grasses. Hach year they produce, besides 
flowering stems, a number of leafy barren stems that will 
form flowering stems later on. Perennial grasses are 
tufted or spreading according to the nature of their 
