LEADING FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS 339 



311. The cereal grasses. The cereals, or grasses cultivated 

 for their edible grains, furnish the most important part of our 

 vegetable food and much of that consumed by our domestic 

 animals as well. The principal species grown in ordinary 



FIG. 273. A field of sugar cane at Vera Cruz 

 After Freeman and Chandler 



soils in temperate climates are wheat, corn, oats, rye, and 

 barley. Various kinds of millet much used as human food in 

 Asia and elsewhere are with us only forage crops. The rice 

 plant is noteworthy among the cereals as being aquatic, 

 usually cultivated during the earlier months of its growth 

 partially or wholly under water (Fig. 274). Some details in 

 regard to the cereals will be found in Chap. XXIV. 



