INTRODUCTION 



The grasses of our state, including both wild and cultivated species, 

 may properly be regarded as our most important vegetation ; for no other 

 plants have such a wide and fundamental bearing on the stability and 

 progress of our prosperity and civilization. There are about 4500 species 

 of true grass plants known in the world. Of these about 180 species 

 occur as native, introduced, or commonly cultivated in Ohio. 



The grasses, outside of the bamboo tribe, are all herbacous, peren- 

 nials, biennals or annuals. The stem, sometimes called the culm, is of 

 a very extreme type having exceedingly long internodes. It is either 

 hollow or solid, but if hollow it is always closed at the nodes. The leaves 

 are two-ranked and alternate. The leaf is also a highly specialized 

 structure usually having a linear blade with a more or less prominent 

 midrib and a large sheath which is open on the side opposite the blade. 

 On the upper side of the leaf between the sheath and the blade there is 

 often a permanent fringe of hairs or one or more scarious appendages 

 called ligules. The roots of grasses are fibrous and together with the 

 creeping rootstocks form the sod so characteristic of many species. 



Grasses are very generally distributed throughout the world, often 

 forming extensive prairies, meadows, or plains, and furnishing great 

 quantities of food for grazing animals. They are of importance in 

 making an effective covering for large areas of the earth's surface and 

 in protecting the land from erosion. The grasses yielding food grains 

 are called cereals and constitute the most substantial food plants for man. 

 The most important of these grasses are Indian corn, rice, wheat, rye, 

 barley, oats, sorghum, millet and sugar cane. 



Aside from the general uses mentioned above certain species of 

 grasses are employed in many other ways. Various species furnish 

 material for basketry and for hats, mats, and braidwork ; many species 

 are used in paper making; some furnish various commercial starches, oils 

 and cellulose used in the arts ; some are used for fuel as for instance the 

 cobs of Indian corn ; certain species are used as soil binders on levees, in 

 river bottoms, and on sand dunes ; species belonging to the bamboo tribe 

 are used extensively for building houses and fences, for furniture, fishing 

 poles, and an endless assortment of small articles ; various species like rye 

 are used for thatching roofs ; broom corn, a variety of sorghum, is used 

 extensively in the manufacture of brooms and brushes ; the peculiar 

 fruits of job's-tears are strung as beads ; corn cobs are manufactured into 

 tobacco pipes ; some species are used in medicine ; various species are 

 cultivated as ornamental grasses in gardens and the panicles of some are 

 employed for dry winter boquets. Many other uses might be mentioned. 



Grasses, of course, belong to the flowering plants, or Anthophyta. 

 They are classified botanically as follows: 



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