GENERAL PARI. 
|. Botanical Description of the Natural Order Gramineae. 
The body of a grass, like that of ordinary flowering plants, is made up of underground parts, 
bearing roots, and parts in the air, bearing leaves and flowers. 
When the seed germinates, the root which is first produced is a direct downward prolongation 
of the stem. This, however, soon dies away, and is replaced by a number of other roots, which spring 
laterally from the base of the stem, more especially from those nodes, which lie beneath or near the 
sround. Such roots are technically spoken of as adventitious. and are specially prevalent among plants 
belonging to the Monocotyledon class. There is not, as is usually the case in Dicotyledonous plants, a 
direct downward prolongation of the stem forming a tap root, with other roots springing out along 
its sides. 
Root. 
The stem is a culm, usually herbaceous and hollow. At intervals transverse plates occur ; these Stem or Culm. 
form the swollen*) nodes from which the leaves originate. The hollow parts between, forming the 
ereater part of the culm, are the internodes. In the internodes, the bundles of fibres and vessels 
(fibro - vascular bundles) take a longitudinal course and run parallel, leaving the centre hollow; in the 
nodes, the bundles cross and interlace, forming the transverse plates there. Indian Corn and Sugar 
Cane are, however, exceptional, as their stems are solid. The plants commonly spoken of as sedges 
(Cyperaceae) are readily distinguished from grasses by their solid stems, 
Lateral branches bearing green foliage leaves can only by produced from the axils of the basal 
(radical) leaves. Other branches however which form the inflorescence towards the summit of the stem, 
have no leaves developed in connection with them. 
The Growth and development of the main stem and of its branches vary according as the grass 
is annual or perennial. | 
In annual grasses — of litle importance as fodder plants — all the stems come inlo flower and 
produce seed within the space of twelve months; then the plant dies. The whole development may be 
accomplished in the course of a single season: — the seed germinates in spring, and by summer or 
autumn the fruit is ripe. At times, however, the development of an annual grass may be spread over 
two years: — the seed germinates in autumn, growth stops during winter but begins again in spring, 
and by the summer of next year the fruit is ripe. 
*) This swollen appearance is mainly due to a thickening of the base of the leaf-sheath and not of the culm itself. 
When laid by the wind, the culm has the power of regaining the erect position, This depends on unequal growth at 
the base of the leaf-sheath. 
Duration. 
