336 



PEACTICAL BOTANY 



308. Families of monocotyledons. There are about forty 

 families of monocotyledons, variously grouped by botanists into 

 from seven to eleven orders, and embracing 

 over 20,000 species. This chapter will discuss 

 only four of the most important families, the 

 Grass family (Grraminece), the Palm family 

 (Palmce), the Lily family (lAliacece), and the 

 Orchis family (Orchidacece). 



309. The Grass family. The grasses num- 

 ber about 3500 species, and are distributed 

 very widely over the earth's surface. Some 

 species, such as the wild rice found in the Mid- 

 dle West and northward, are aquatic, others 

 grow in semi-desert regions ; but most grasses 

 inhabit plains, meadows, or open woods. Tree- 

 like species, such as the bamboos of many 

 kinds, may form dense and lofty groves, and 

 our Southern canebrakes are tall and almost 

 impenetrable; on the other 

 hand, the smallest of the 

 grasses are of sparse growth 

 and only a few inches in 

 height. Grasses are generally gregarious ; 

 that is, many individuals of a species grow 

 side by side. It is rarely that a single plant 

 occurs without neighbors like itself. The 

 general form and appearance of the ordi- 

 nary grasses, with their usually hollow and 

 conspicuously jointed stems, are familiar to 

 all. The flowers are rather small, and rela- 

 tively simple (Figs. 271 and 272) ; the struc- 

 ture of the fruit and seed is sufficiently 

 shown in Figs. 128 and 129. 



310. Various uses of the grasses. The Grass family is proba- 

 bly more useful to man than any other family of plants. Tlie 

 bamboo serves the Asiatic peoples among whom it grows for 



FIG. 268. Paral- 

 lel-veined leaf of 

 canna,veins run- 

 ning from mid- 

 rib to margin 



FIG. 269. Parallel- 

 veined leaf of Solo- 

 mon's seal 

 After Strasburger 



