GRASS FAMILY 



GRAMINEAE 



BOTTLEBRUSH GRASS 



Hystrix patula Moench 



The Grass family is economically the most import- 

 ant among plants. It includes the important grains and 

 food plants such as Wheat, Corn, Oats, Rye, Barley, 

 Rice, Sugar Cane, Sorghum and Millet; and 

 many useful plants such as Bamboo, Timothy 

 and the various lawn grasses. Of the 1500 

 kinds of Grass that occur in the United States 



60 are cultivated and 

 about the same number 

 are weeds. At least 200 

 species grow wild in 

 Illinois. 



The stems of most 

 Grasses are hollow be- ^ 

 tween the joints and 

 solid at the joints. The 

 leaves are parallel vein- 

 ed and in 2 rows on the 

 stem. Each has 2 parts, 

 sheath and blade. The 

 sheath envelops the 

 stem, its margins over- 

 lapping. Flowers are 

 enclosed in scales and 

 have neither sepals nor petals. In most Grasses the flower 

 has 1 pistil, 3 stamens and 2 very small scales at the base 

 of the ovary. The fruit is a seedlike grain. Practically all 

 Grasses are wind pollinated. 



The Bottlebrush Grass, which is common in open woods 

 from New Brunswick to Minnesota and southwestward, and 

 which blooms during June and July, is given here merely as an 

 example of the family. To know the differences between our 

 many kinds of Grass one will need to refer to exhaustive catalogs 

 of the family or of all plants. 



All cound, upon the river's slippery edge, 

 Witching to doept^r calm the drowsy tide. 



Whispers and leans the breeze entangling sedge ; 



An Indian Summer Reverie — James Russf.ll Lowell 



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