True grasses
Flowering head of Meadow Foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis), with stamens exserted at anthesis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Poales Family: Poaceae
Subfamilies
There are 7 subfamilies: Subfamily Arundinoideae Subfamily Bambusoideae Subfamily Centothecoideae Subfamily Chloridoideae Subfamily Panicoideae Subfamily Pooideae Subfamily Stipoideae Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Divisions Green algae Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular embryophytes Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Seedless vascular plants Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also angiosperms or Magnoliophyta) are one of the major groups of modern plants, comprising those that produce seeds in specialized reproductive organs called flowers, where the ovulary or carpel is enclosed. ... Orders Base Monocots: Acorus Alismatales Asparagales Dioscoreales Liliales Pandanales Family Petrosaviaceae Commelinids: Arecales Commelinales Poales Zingiberales Family Dasypogonaceae Monocotyledons or monocots are a group of flowering plants usually ranked as a class and once called the Monocotyledoneae. ... Families (APG) Anarthriaceae Bromeliaceae Centrolepidaceae Cyperaceae Ecdeiocoleaceae Eriocaulaceae Flagellariaceae Hydatellaceae Joinvilleaceae Juncaceae Mayacaceae Poaceae Rapateaceae Restionaceae Sparganiaceae Thurniaceae Typhaceae Xyridaceae The Poales is a cosmopolitan order of monocotyledonous flowering plants. ... Genera See text The Bambusoideae is a subfamily of the true grass family Poaceae. ...

The true grasses are monocotyledonous plants (Class Liliopsida) in the Family Poaceae, formerly also known as Gramineae. There are about 600 genera and perhaps 10,000 species of grasses. It is estimated grasslands comprise 20% of the vegetation cover of the earth. This family is the most important of all plant families to human economies, including lawn and forage grasses, the staple food grains grown around the world, and bamboo, widely used for construction throughout Asia. Orders Base Monocots: Acorus Alismatales Asparagales Dioscoreales Liliales Pandanales Family Petrosaviaceae Commelinids: Arecales Commelinales Poales Zingiberales Family Dasypogonaceae Monocotyledons or monocots are a group of flowering plants usually ranked as a class and once called the Monocotyledoneae. ... Divisions Green algae Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular embryophytes Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Seedless vascular plants Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants... Orders Base Monocots: Acorus Alismatales Asparagales Dioscoreales Liliales Pandanales Family Petrosaviaceae Commelinids: Arecales Commelinales Poales Zingiberales Family Dasypogonaceae Monocotyledons or monocots are a group of flowering plants usually ranked as a class and once called the Monocotyledoneae. ... Genera Many, see text Bamboos are a group of woody perennial evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. ... World map showing location of Asia Asia is the central and eastern part of the continent of Eurasia, defined by subtracting the European peninsula from Eurasia. ...

Grasses generally have the following characteristics:

• Typically hollow stems (called culms), plugged at intervals (the nodes).
• Leaves, arising at nodes, alternate, distichous (in one plane) or rarely spiral, and parallel-veined.
• Leaves differentiated into a lower sheath hugging the stem for a distance and a blade with margin usually entire; a ligule (a membranous appendage or ring of hairs) lies at the junction between sheath and blade.
• Small, wind-pollinated flowers (called florets) sheathed inside two glumes (bracts), lacking petals, and grouped into spikelets, these arranged in a panicle, raceme, spike, or head.
• Fruit that is a caryopsis or grain.

In common parlance, a stem is any elongated, usually narrow, extension or supporting structure of an object. ... A culm was originally a stem of any type of plant. ... In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. ... Wind is the quasi-horizontal movement of air (as opposed to an air current) caused by a horizontal pressure gradient force. ... Pollination is an important step in the reproduction of seed plants: the transfer of pollen grains (male gametes) to the plant carpel, the structure that contains the ovule (female gamete). ... Wildflowers A flower is the reproductive organ of those plants classified as angiosperms (flowering plants; Division Magnoliophyta). ... For the petals of chakras, see Petal (chakra). ... This inflorescence of the terrestrial orchid Spathoglottis plicata is a typical raceme. ... White-fruited Rowan (Sorbus glabrescens) corymb; note the branched structure A panicle is a compound raceme; a branched, indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers (and fruit) attached along the secondary branches (in another words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes). ... This inflorescence of the terrestrial orchid Spathoglottis plicata is a typical raceme. ... This inflorescence of the terrestrial orchid Spathoglottis plicata is a typical raceme. ... Example of a flower head. ... Fruit stall in Barcelona, Spain. ... In botany, a caryopsis is a type of simple dry fruit — one that is moncarpelate (formed from a single carpel) and indehiscent (not opening at maturity) and resembles an achene, except that in a caryopsis the pericarp is fused with the thin seed coat. ... An assortment of grains The word grain has a great many meanings, most being descriptive of a small piece or particle. ...

Cultivation and uses

Wheat crop

Agricultural grasses grown for human food production are called cereals. Cereals constitute the major source of food energy for humans and perhaps the major source of protein, and include rice in South and Southeast Asia, maize in Central and South America, and wheat and barley in the Americas and North Eurasia. Many other grasses are also grown for forage and fodder for animal food, particularly for sheep and cattle. Photograph of a wheat field taken by Tarquin. ... Photograph of a wheat field taken by Tarquin. ... Species T. boeoticum T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat (Triticum spp. ... Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu (extinct) Homo sapiens sapiens Human beings define themselves in biological, social, and spiritual terms. ... Cereal crops are mostly grasses cultivated for their edible seeds (actually a fruit called a caryopsis). ... Food energy is the amount of energy in food. ... Species References ITIS 41975 2002-09-22 This article is about the food grain, not the university or Condoleezza Rice; see also rice (disambiguation). ... Map of South Asia. ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ... Species Zea diploperennis Zea luxurians Zea nicaraguensis Zea perennis References ITIS 42268 2002-09-22 Sorting Zea names This article is about the staple food. ... Central America is the region of North America located between the southern border of Mexico and the northwest border of Colombia, in South America. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Species T. boeoticum T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat (Triticum spp. ... Binomial name Hordeum vulgare L. Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is a major food and animal feed crop, a member of the grass family Poaceae. ... The Americas refers collectively to North and South America, as a relatively recent and less ambiguous alternative to the name America, which may refer to either the Americas (typically in languages other than English, where it is often considered a single continent) or to the United States (in English and... North Eurasia often refers to Europe except for Mediterranean and Black Sea countries; Russia except for the Northern Caucasus; Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Xinjiang, Manchuria and northern Japan. ... Forage is the herbaceous plant material (mainly grasses and legumes) eaten by grazing animals. ... In agriculture, fodder or animal feed is any foodstuff that is used specifically to feed livestock, such as cattle, sheep, chickens and pigs. ... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria Placozoa Bilateria  Acoelomorpha  Orthonectida  Rhombozoa  Myxozoa  Superphylum Deuterostomia     Chordata (vertebrates, etc. ... Binomial name Ovis aries Linnaeus, 1758 A sheep is any of several woolly ruminant quadrupeds, but most commonly the Domestic Sheep (Ovis aries), which probably descends from the wild moufflon of south-central and south-west Asia. ... Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Cattle are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ...

Some commonly known grass plants are:

• maize
• wheat
• rice
• rye
• ryegrass
• sugarcane
• barley
• bamboo

Species Zea diploperennis Zea luxurians Zea nicaraguensis Zea perennis References ITIS 42268 2002-09-22 Sorting Zea names This article is about the staple food. ... Species T. boeoticum T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat (Triticum spp. ... Species References ITIS 41975 2002-09-22 This article is about the food grain, not the university or Condoleezza Rice; see also rice (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Secale cereale References: ITIS 42089 2002-09-22 Rye (Secale cereale) is a grass grown extensively as a grain and forage crop. ... Ryegrass (Lolium) is a small genus of tufted grasses, belonging to the Grass family Poaceae. ... Species -wild -wild -cultivated -cultivated -cultivated -cultivated Ref: ITIS 42058 as of 2004-05-05 Sugarcane is one of six species of a tall tropical southeast Asian grass (Family Poaceae) having stout fibrous jointed stalks whose sap at one time was the primary source of sugar. ... Binomial name Hordeum vulgare L. Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is a major food and animal feed crop, a member of the grass family Poaceae. ... Genera Many, see text Bamboos are a group of woody perennial evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. ...

See also

• grass
• Meadow-grass
• Marram grass
• Bahia grass

In popular language grass means a short, green, ground covering or lawn, usually, but not necessarily comprised of a true grass or grasses, called turf. ... Marram grass - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

External links and references

• Definitions of Grass structures
• Poaceae in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval. http://delta-intkey.com
• L. Watson and M. J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The grass genera of the world: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval; including synonyms, morphology, anatomy, physiology, phytochemistry, cytology, classification, pathogens, world and local distribution, and references. http://delta-intkey.com