He nubbed the ears—shelling off the small, chaffy kernels at their tips.

他揉揉耳朵——剥掉耳朵尖端的小而焦糊的谷粒。

By the end of this month, most of the species had ripened their seeds, but undecayed, still seemed to be in bloom from the numerous corolla-like involucres and whorls of chaffy scales of the composite.

，大多数物种的种子都已经成熟， 但没有腐烂， 似乎仍在盛开着无数花冠状的总苞和复合体的糠秕鳞片。