sheaths; 4 and 5. leaf-blades. B.
Convolute; 1 and 2, leaf-sheaths; 3 and 4. leaf-blades.]

In young shoots all the leaf-blades are usually found folded at the
terminal portions. In most cases the leaf-blade is rolled up inwards
from one end to the other so that one margin is inside and the other
outside. This folding is termed =convolute=. This is the kind of folding
that is found in most grasses. However, there are some grasses such as
_Eleusine aegyptiaca_ and _Chloris barbata_, in which the folding is
different. In these grasses the laminas are folded flat on their midribs
so that each half of the blade is folded flat on the other, the inner
surfaces being in contact. The leaves are said to be =conduplicate= in
this case. When the leaves are conduplicate the shoots are more or less
compressed. (See fig. 16.)

CHAPTER III.

THE INFLORESCENCE AND FLOWER.

The flowers of grasses are reduced to their essential organs, the
stamens and the pistil. The flowers are aggregated together on distinct
shoots constituting the inflorescence of grasses. Sooner or later all
the branches of a grass-plant terminate in inflorescences which usually
stand far above the foliage leaves. As in other flowering plants, in
grasses also different forms of inflorescence are met with. But in
grasses the unit of the inflorescence is the =spikelet= and not the
flower.

The forms of inflorescence usually met with are the spike, raceme and
panicle. When the spikelets are sessile or borne directly along an
elongated axis as in _Enteropogon melicoides_ the inflorescence is a
=spike=. If the spikelets borne by the axis are all stalked, however
short the pedicels may be, it is a =raceme=. It must, however, be
remembered that true spikes are very rare. An inflorescence may appear
to be a spike, but on a close examination it will be seen to consist of
spikelets more or less pedicelled. Such an inflorescence, strictly
speaking, is a =spiciform raceme=. The branches of the inflorescence in
_Paspalum scrobiculatum_ or _Panicum javanicum_ are racemes and the
whole inflorescence is a compound raceme. The inflorescence is a
=panicle= when the spikelets are borne on secondary, tertiary or further
subdivided branches. Panicles differ very much in appearance according
to the relative length and stoutness of the branches. In _Eragrostis
tremula_ the panicle is very diffuse, in _Eragrostis Willdenoviana_ less
so. The panicle in _Sporobolus coromandelian