Grasses
Grasses
Grasses or Poaceae (pronounced: po-uh-see-ee) is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants known as grasses. It includes some 780 genera and about 12,000 species.
Etymology
The term "grass" comes from the Old English græs, which is related to Old High German gras, and more distantly to Greek χόρτος (khórtos), all meaning "grass".
Description
Grasses have stems that are hollow except at the nodes and narrow alternate leaves borne in two ranks. The lower part of each leaf encloses the stem, forming a leaf-sheath. With around 780 genera and around 12,000 species, the Poaceae is the fifth-largest plant family, following the Orchidaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Rubiaceae.
Types of Grasses
Grasses include the "true grasses", of the subfamily Pooideae (bluegrass, ryegrass, fescues), as well as the sedges (Cyperaceae) and the rushes (Juncaceae). The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns (turf) and grassland.
Uses
Grasses are the most important of all plants to human economies and indeed to the biosphere as a whole. They provide, directly or indirectly, the principal food for man and beasts, materials for many industries, and plants for lawns and landscapes.
Related Terms
- Monocotyledon: A type of angiosperm that has only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon.
- Flowering plants: Also known as angiosperms, the most diverse group of land plants.
- Cereals: Grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain.
- Bamboo: A group of woody perennial evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae.
- Turf: The surface layer of earth containing a dense growth of grass and its matted roots.
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