Plant-life, with 74 full-page illus., 24 being from photos, by the author and 50 in colour from drawings . f the blade and the sheath. The small flowers arearrayed in spikelets, which, in their turn, enter into thecomposition of inflorescences of various kinds, accordingto species. It is usual for each spikelet to embraceseveral flowers. The spikelet has at its base, in mostcases, a pair of barren, chaffy bracts (glumes); but invarious species these glumes number from one to threeor four. Each flower in the spikelet occurs in a sheathingscale, the folea, while subtending the flower, and outsid
Plant-life, with 74 full-page illus., 24 being from photos, by the author and 50 in colour from drawings . f the blade and the sheath. The small flowers arearrayed in spikelets, which, in their turn, enter into thecomposition of inflorescences of various kinds, accordingto species. It is usual for each spikelet to embraceseveral flowers. The spikelet has at its base, in mostcases, a pair of barren, chaffy bracts (glumes); but invarious species these glumes number from one to threeor four. Each flower in the spikelet occurs in a sheathingscale, the folea, while subtending the flower, and outsidethe palea is the flowering glume, which is frequentlyawned—, furnished with a bristle that bears a num-ber of small, stiff hairs directed backwards. There isno true perianth, but in many instances it is replacedby two very small scales, the lodicules, found above thepalea, between it and the flower proper. In brief, eachflower of a spikelet occurs within a palea and a floweringglume, and the spikelet itself is enclosed by protectiveouter glumes, usually two in number. As to the essen- Plate 1. Flower, side view 2. Flower, front view TWAY-BLADE [Lhtera o-vata),Order ORCHIDACE^. ?:j. Essential organs; stamen with cover turned back4. Cross-section of ovary THE SEDGES 201 tials of the flowers, each ovary, containing one ovule,is surmounted by two feathery stigmas, and the stamens,with rare exceptions three in number, consist of longfilaments bearing two-celled, pendulous anthers, whichhang outside the flower so that their dustlike andabundant pollen may be readily dispersed by feathery stigmas afford an extended surface for thereception of pollen. The Cyperacete, or Sedges, have leaves resemblingthose of Grasses, but differing from them by the generalabsence of a ligule and by the fact that their sheathingbases are closed. In the Grasses the sheath is open; itgrips the stem, but it can be unfolded and removedwithout being torn. But there can be no unfolding oft
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbotany, bookyear1915
