In immediate relation with the flower itself, and often entirely concealing it, is the palea or pale (" upper pale " of most systematic agrostologists).
In the jointed or spelt wheats the distinctions lie in the presence of awns, the direction of the points of the glumes (straight, bent outwards, or turned inwards), the form of the ear as revealed on a cross-section, and the entire or cleft palea.
On the other side of the flower and at a slightly higher level is the "palea," of thinner texture than the other glumes, with infolded margins and with two ribs or veins.
To this peculiar fruit the term caryopsis has been applied (more familiarly " grain "); it is commonly furrowed longitudinally down one side (usually the inner, but in Coix and its allies, the outer), and an additional covering is not unfrequently provided by the adherence of the persistent palea, or even also of the flowering FIG.