C82 



UKAFTOPHYLLUiU 



elliptic, acuminate, irregularly markeil with yellow along 

 the midril): fls. crimson, in axillary wliorls; corolla pu- 

 bescent. Habitat! B.R. ir,:1227. Lowe -t.";. (B.IM. 1870 

 shows a variety with reddish brown coloring). 



GRASS (Graminece). Annual or perennial herl>s 

 (some bamboos woody), mostly tufted or decumbent, 

 rarely climbing, often creeping and rooting at the base. 

 Trne 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 



983. Spike o[ a Grass (rye), containing many flo\vers. 



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

 ing; ligule a thin tongue-like growth at the ape.K of the 

 sheath ; blade entire, parallel-veined, commonly long 

 and narrow ; a 2-keeled membr.-UHnis ]:)ro|)liyllum (or 

 leaf) always standing lietween eacii branch and the 

 main axis. Spiitelets in panicles, racemes or spikes, 

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

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

 chilla), which supports one or more Jloral gbnnes, in tlii' 

 axil of each of which is commonly 1 Hower. l<Mowers 



UBASS 



perfect or imperfect, destitute of true calyx or corolla. 

 Between each Jloral glume and flower are usually 2 

 (rarely 3) minute hyaline scales (lodicules). Stamens 

 H (rarely 1, 2 or more than .'!) ; pistil 1: ovary 1-celled, 

 1-ovuled ; styles 2 (rarely 1 or 3), usually plumose: 

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

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

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

 the base of the endosperm. Figs. 981-98-t show the 

 structure of various Grass florets. 



Perennial Grasses, such as those commonly grown for 

 meadow, p)asture or lawn, produce large numbers of 

 sterile shoots that bear leaves froiu very short stems, 

 but no flowers. There are ]uany widely different plants, 

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

 tached to them, such as knot-grass, rib-grass, cotton- 

 grass, sea-grass, eel-grass, sedge-grass, scorpion-grass, 

 but 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 mo.st likely to be mistaken for Grasses are 

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

 bers in great variety frequently found on wet land. The 

 t)est popular way to distinguish Grasses from sedges 

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

 or angles of the stem, wdiile 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 pl.ants 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, orchard-grass, meadow fox- 

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

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

 as w'heat, barley, rye, oats, rice, .sorghum, Indian 

 corn. In number of species the Grass family occupies 

 the fifth place with 3,500, while the compositoa, 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, 

 they are of more value as food for man and domestic 

 animals than all other kinds of vegetation combined. 

 None of these families is more widely distrilmted over 

 the earth's surface, or is found in greater extremes of 

 climate or diversity of soil. 



The species are very numerous in tropjical 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 ;u-eas. "NVhei-e soil is thin or moisture insufficient, 

 the Grasses grow in bunches more or less isolated. 

 Plants of one section of the family Panicaceae predomi- 

 nate in the tropics and warm temperate regions, while 

 plants of the other section, Poaeea?, predominate in tem- 

 perate and cold regions. 



Overstocking dry grazing districts checks the better 

 Grasses, destroying many of them, and encourages the 

 Intter weeds which multiply and occupy the land. 



A Grass extends its domain by running rootstocks, by 

 liberating seeds enclosed in "the glumes, which are 

 caught liy 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 the lower nodes promptly elongate on the 

 lower side and thus bring the top into an erect position. 

 Each sheath supports and holds erect the tender lower 

 portion of the intcrnode, whore it is soft and weak; it 

 also |H-otri'ts the young branches or panicles. Thrifty 

 blades of ( irasscs'suitahl.- f(U- pasture and lawn elongate 

 from tlic lower end, S" that when the tips arc cut off 

 the leaves do not cease Ut elongate, but renew their 

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

 veIo]i a thicker epidermis, and, bv shrinking of some 

 of the delicate liulliform cells of the upper epidermis, 

 they diminish their surface as they roll their edges in- 

 ward 10- bring them together, like closing an open hook. 

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



