Poaceae

There are 7 subfamilies:

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Subfamily Arundinoideae

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Subfamily Bambusoideae

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Subfamily Centothecoideae

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Subfamily Chloridoideae

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Subfamily Panicoideae

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Subfamily Pooideae

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Subfamily Stipoideae

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The true grasses are monocotyledonous plants (Class Liliopsida) in the Family Poaceae, also known as Gramineae. There are about 600 genera and perhaps 10,000 species of grasses. It is estimated grasslands comprise 20% of the vegetation cover of the earth. This family is the most important of all plant families to human economies, including lawn and forage grasses, the staple food grains grown around the world, and bamboo, widely used for construction throughout Asia.

Related Topics:
Monocotyledon - Plant - Liliopsida - Food - Bamboo - Asia

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Grasses generally have the following characteristics:

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• Typically hollow stems (called culms), plugged at intervals (the nodes).
• Leaves, arising at nodes, alternate, distichous (in one plane) or rarely spiral, and parallel-veined.
• Leaves differentiated into a lower sheath hugging the stem for a distance and a blade with margin usually entire; a ligule (a membranous appendage or ring of hairs) lies at the junction between sheath and blade.
• Small, wind-pollinated flowers (called florets) sheathed inside two glumes (bracts), lacking petals, and grouped into spikelets, these arranged in a panicle, raceme, spike, or head.
• Fruit that is a caryopsis.
 
Poaceae: Cultivation and uses ►