682 



GRAPTOPHYLLUM 



GKASS 



elliptic, acuminate, irre^ilarly marked with yellow alon^ 

 the midrib: fls, crimson, in axillary whorls; corolla pu- 

 bescent. Habitat? B.R. ]o:1227. Lowe 45. (B.M. 1870 

 shows a variety with reddish brown coloring). 



GRASS {Graminecp). Annual or perennial herbs 

 (some bamboos woody), mostly tufted or decumbent, 

 rarely climbing, often creeping and rooting at the base. 

 True roots fibrous. Stems (culms) simple or branching, 

 usually hollow (wheat), sometimes solid (maize) between 

 the nodes. Leaves springing from the nodes, alternate, 

 in two vertical rows on the stem; the sheaths closed 



perfect or imperf 

 Between each Him 

 (rarely 3) minut*- 

 3 (rarely 1, 2 or u 

 1-ovuled ; styles 



ite of true calyx or corolla. 

 and tlower are usually 2 

 ■iiles (lodicules). Stamens 

 !|; pistil 1: ovary 1-celled, 

 (rarely 1 or 3), usually plumose: 



963. Spike of 



Uye), containing many flowers. 



when young, but usually split down one side in matur- 

 ing; ligule a thin tongue-like growth at the apex of the 

 sheath ; blade entire, parallel-veined, commonly long 

 and narrow ; a 2-keeled membranous prophyllum {or 

 leaf) always standini^ between each branch and the 

 main axis. Spikelets in panicles, racemes or spikes, 

 usually consisting of 2 (rarely 0, 1, or more than 2) 

 chaffy empty glumes at the base of a short axis (ra- 

 chilla), which supports one or more floral glumes, in the 

 axil of each of which is commonly 1 flower. Flowers 



fx-uit (grain or caryopsis) seed-like, often enclosed by 

 the palet and its floral glume. Seed erect, closely cov- 

 ered by the tliin pericarp; embryo small, on one side of 

 thr 1m... .,f the endosperm. Figs. 981-98-4 show the 

 strurtiH-. ,,f various Grass florets. 



Pt'iiniii;il (Irasses, such as those commonly grown for 

 meadow, pasture or lawn, produce large numbers of 

 sterile shoots that hear leaves from very short stems, 

 but no flowers. There are many widely different plants, 

 which in popular language have the name "grass" at- 

 t:u'h*-d to them, such as knot-grass, rib-grass, cotton- 

 ^'rass. sea-grass, eel-grass, sedge-grass, scorpion-grass, 

 bat these do not belong to the family here under consid- 

 eration. Neither are the clovers and their allies, or the 

 sedges and rushes, to be called Grasses. No other 

 plants are truly entitled to this name, excepting those 

 answering to the description above given. 



The plants most likely to be mistaken for Grasses are 

 the sedges (Cyperacefe), of which there are large num- 

 bers in great variety frequently found on wet land. The 

 best popular way to distinguish Grasses from sedges 

 is this: the leaves of sedges are arranged on 3 sides 

 or angles of the stem, while on Grasses they are found 

 on 2 sides, alternate and 2-ranked. In making use of 

 this test, care must be taken to select well grown, erect 

 stems. Most sedges have solid stems and most Grasses 

 have hollow stems. To learn to distinguish plants of the 

 Grass family is easy, but to discriminate between spe- 

 cies is difficult. 



Among the species most commonly known are timo- 

 thy, red top, June-grass, ore hard- grass, meadow fox- 

 tail, the fescues, oat-grass, sweet-vernal, quack-grass, 

 Bermuda-grass, sugar cane, chess, and the cereals, such 

 as wheat, barley, rye, oats, rice, sorghum, Indian 

 corn. In number of species the Grass family occupies 

 the tifth place with 3,500, while the compositae, legumes, 

 orchids and madderworts are larger. In number of indi- 

 viduals, the Grasses excel any other family. Seed plants 

 are arranged In 200 to 220 families, and of all these the 

 true Grasses are of greatest importance to man ; in fact, 

 tht'v are of more value as food for man and cb.nipstic 

 animals than all other kinds of veiri-tatiun n.iul iiied. 

 Noiif of these families is more widely 'listrilmtcd over 

 the earth's surface, or is found in greater i-xtrujues of 

 climate or diversity of soil. 



The species are very numerous in tropical regions, 

 where the plants are usually scattered, while in a moist, 

 temperate climate, though the species are less numer- 

 ous, the number of plants is enormous, often clothing 

 vast ai'eas. Where soil is thin or moisture insufficient, 

 the <4rasses grew in buufhrs nioro or less isolated. 

 Plants of one sr.-ijon of llir family I'aTiira.-cje predomi- 

 natr ill flu- t^o|'i■■^ and warm 1cm]"Tati' rr-rions, while 

 plants of llii- otlicr s.-ctiun, Poa.'.ic. pn-doniinate in tem- 

 perate and cold regions. 



Overstocking dry grazing districts checks the better 

 Grasses, destroying many of them, and encourages the 

 bitter weeds which multiply and occupy the land. 



A Grass extends its domain by runnint,' rootstocks, by 

 liberating seeds enclosed in the gluni's, wliirli are 

 caught by the breeze, by some passing animal, or the 

 nearest stream ; the twisting and untwisting of awns 

 bury some of them in cracks, crevices or soft earth. 

 In case a growing stem is thrown down for any reason, 

 several of tln^ low. r nodes pruniiitly elon^'atc im the 

 lower si'h' am! iliii~^ l.rinu'' thi- to]> iiilo an rrc-l position. 

 Each sliealh sujq.ori^ and liolds nv.-t th<- t.-nd.-r lower 

 portion of tlic intcrnoib.', whi-i-e it is soft and weak; it 

 also protects the young branches or panicles. Thrifty 

 blades of Grasses suitable for pasture and lawn elongate 

 from the lower end, so that when the tips are cut off 

 the leaves do not cease to elonj^ate, Imt renew their 

 length. When exposed to sun or dry air, the blades de- 

 velop a thicker epidermis, and. by shrinking of some 

 of the delicate bulliform cells of the uppnr epidermis, 

 they djminisli tlieir surface as they roll their edges in- 

 ward or brinir tlnMii tojj^ether. like closing: an open bonk. 

 When the plant is in flower the minute and delicate lodi- 



