p.6
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Transcription
6
In the floral envelopes of the gramina the [modifreats?] is less than in most other species. The [chaff?]-or the glumes & palae, [are leaves] differ but slightly from true leaves.-
The grain or seed consists of a whole plant root, stem, leaves, and bud-
The first leaf completely surrounds & covers the axis, like a sheath.
The woody fibers of grasses are scattered about the body of the culm instead of being arranged in concentric circles as in the trees. [and other dicotyledous plants.]
The flowers of grasses are mostly compound, or have more than one [subtended?] by a common calyx (the glumes) as in the sim-flower which instead of being (as many suppose) a single flower is a combination of many hundreds. So in grasses each little spikelet may be considered as a compound flower.
Grasses were created before the present orders of things was finally established by the creator as is [illegible] by the discovery of--- genera and ---- species in a fossilized state. But their existence seems to have been commenced long after the lower orders of [ferns?] &c found in the Coal measures.-
Ash of wheat straw .60 pr ct Burly stram 57 pr ct silica. Silex a constitutent of grasses &c [Not of other orders of plants] It is this that gives strength & rigidity to the stalk, and it is as essential to the growth of the grass as any other element. The epidermis is almost entirely silica.
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