Part 3: Plant Classification

Characteristics of Grasses

Grasses are flowering plants belonging to the family Poaceae, which contains over 6,000 species. Grasses are one of the most important types of plants in the world since they supply most of the world’s food (such as corn, rice, oats, rye, sorghum, wheat, barely).

Grasses have many uses including:

• Soil conservation and protection because they have thick, fibrous root systems that hold soil well.
• Landscaping and golf courses because some have a sod-forming growth pattern
• Rangeland forage because they are found in a wide range of areas and can provide quality, palatable nutrition for grazing animals

Distribution of particular grasses in particular environments is often determined by the area’s type of soil, available moisture, temperature, exposure, and altitude.

Here is some specific information about grass anatomy:

• Grasses have fibrous roots, meaning they are made up of many long, slender, branched roots all about the same diameter. Most of the root is found in the top 12 inches of soil. This characteristic makes grasses good for holding soil together.
  
  
• The stem of grass is also called the culm. They are usually hollow except at the nodes, also known as joints in grasses. Grasses having an only one tuft or clump with many stems growing from the clump are called bunchgrasses. Grasses having rhizomes or stolons tend to cover the ground in a dense stand and are called sod forming or mat forming grasses.
  
  
• Grass leaves have parallel venation. The sheath wraps around the stem and the blades protrude from the stem. The function of the leaf is to manufacture food through photosynthesis and to transfer this food to other parts of the plant.
  
  
• Grass flowers or spikelets are found in groups called an inflorescence, or seedhead. Flowers are usually inconspicuous. There is great variety in the arrangement of spikelets on an inflorescence, and this characteristic is used to help identify species of grasses.