Seed Plants : Angiosperms 



309 



seen on a stalk of corn. The flowers arc borne on spikelets 

 surrounded by green bracts. 



The grasses reach their greatest size in the bamboos. These 

 have long been one of the chief sources of lumber in eastern 

 Asia and the East Indies. From the bamboos come the 

 materials for the native houses, furniture, and a large number 

 of articles of household use. In subtropical America these 

 plants are being used as windbreaks for the pineapple fields 

 and citrus orchards. 



Sugar cane and sorghum are members of the grass family 

 that are cultivated for their sugar. The former is the source 

 of the sugar that is produced in our Gulf Coast region and in 

 the tropics. Sorghum is grown farther north and is used 

 for the manufacture of molasses. Broom corn is closely re- 

 lated to sorghum, and is grow^n for the stiff branches of the 

 flower cluster, which are used in the manufacture of brooms 



Fig. 1S2. Japanese cane, a near relative of the sugar cane, grown as a fodder crop 

 in the Pliilippines. 



