Poaceae

Poaceae

▪ plant family
Introduction
formerly called  Gramineae 

      grass family of monocotyledonous flowering plants, a division of the order Poales. The Poaceae are the world's single most important source of food. They rank among the top five families of flowering plants in terms of the number of species, but they are clearly the most abundant and important family of the Earth's flora. They grow on all continents, in desert to freshwater and marine habitats, and at all but the highest elevations. Plant communities dominated by grasses account for about 24 percent of the Earth's vegetation.

Distribution and abundance
      There are about 10,000 grass species, most of them confined to a single continent. An exception, the cosmopolitan species Phragmites australis, the giant reed grass, has the widest geographic range of any flowering plant. This remarkably versatile species extends north to south in a wide band around the Earth between latitudes 70° N and 40° S and is most abundant in the Old World temperate regions; it is not native to the extreme south of South America, the Amazon basin, New Zealand, Polynesia, and parts of Australia, however. Humans have played an important role in expanding the range of many grasses, including weeds such as Digitaria sanguinalis (crabgrass), Echinochloa crus-galli (barnyard grass, or cockspur), and Poa annua (bluegrass). Endemism, or restricted geographic distribution, is fairly common among grasses, especially at the southern tips of continents and on mountain ranges.

      The nearly 800 genera of grasses fall into three distributional patterns. Nearly three-quarters are confined to one of seven basic centres of distribution: Africa, Australia, Eurasia north of the Himalayas, South and Southeast Asia, North America, temperate South America, and tropical America. About one-fifth of the genera encompass even broader distribution patterns throughout temperate or tropical regions of the world. Somewhat less than one-tenth of the genera have established discontinuous distributions on adjacent continents; 12 genera, for example, have such disjunct distributions between North and South America, 11 genera show these patterns between North America and Europe, and 7 genera are discontinuous between North America and northern Asia. Brachyeletrum erectum exemplifies the latter distributional pattern. This attractive herb inhabits woodlands of eastern North America and eastern Asia, a common pattern in many plant groups that is thought to represent the remnants of a once more continuous distribution around the Northern Temperate Zone.

      There is general agreement that grasses cluster into seven major groups. These subfamilies are more or less distinctive in structural features (especially in the anatomy of the leaves) and geographic distribution. The subfamily Bambusoideae (bamboo) differs from other grasses in its specialized leaf anatomy and structure, well-developed rhizomes (underground stems), often woody stems, and unusual flowers. Although the geographic range of the subfamily is between latitudes 48° N and 47° S, up to elevations of 4,000 metres, including regions with snowy winters, it is most prevalent in tropical forests. The core of the grasses of this subfamily consists of two more or less distinct major groups: the bamboos, or tree grasses, which are members of the canopy of tropical forests and of other vegetation types, and the herbaceous grasses of the Bambusoideae, which are restricted to the tropical forest understory. Of the 1,000 species of bamboos, somewhat less than half are native to the New World. Almost 80 percent of the total diversity of the herbaceous Bambusoideae subfamily, however, is found in the neotropics. The coastal, moist forests of Bahia, a state in Brazil, are home to the greatest bamboo diversity and endemism in the New World.

 A peripheral subgroup of the Bambusoideae is sometimes segregated as the subfamily Oryzoideae owing to the distinctive spikelets and aquatic or wetland herbaceous habit of these tropical and warm-temperate plants. The best-known members of this subgroup of only about 70 species are rice, Oryza sativa, a native of Asia, and wild rice, Zizania aquatica (see photograph—>), of North America.

 Four of the major cereals—wheat (Triticum aestivum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), rye (Secale cereale), and oats (Avena sativa; see photograph—>)—and many lawn and forage grasses come from the Pooideae. This subfamily contains almost 3,300 species and is clearly defined by various features, including the absence of the distinctive two-celled hairs found on the leaf epidermis in the rest of the family. The Pooideae reigns in temperate climates and is the only subfamily to have seriously invaded very cold areas.

      Most members of the two subfamilies Chloridoideae and Panicoideae tolerate relatively warm and dry habitats through special adaptations for photosynthesis. Both subfamilies are concentrated in the tropics, and those that do extend into higher latitudes flower and grow mostly during the warmest part of the growing season. The 1,300 species of the Chloridoideae share unusual features of leaf anatomy, and many of the species are especially tolerant of drought and high soil salinity.

      The Panicoideae include almost 3,300 species and are remarkably consistent in the nature of their spikelets. This enormously successful group divides naturally into two tribes, the Paniceae and Andropogoneae. Most of the former tribe has become specialized for savannas in tropical, humid zones, especially South America, and the latter is most abundant in areas of the tropics with pronounced seasonal rainfall, most notably India and Southeast Asia.

      Arundinoideae is not nearly as sharply defined as the preceding subfamilies. The 600 species of this heterogeneous group of primitive grasses grow mostly in the tropics and Southern Hemisphere. Phragmites australis belongs in this subfamily. The final two small subfamilies are Centothecoideae (11 genera) and Stipoideae (22 genera).

      The success of the grasses results from their tolerance of grazing herbivores and fire, their varied means of reproduction, and their versatility in photosynthesis. In most flowering plants, new growth in the aerial plant body occurs at the shoot tips only. If the tip is removed, buds in the axils of lower leaves may start growing, but the original shoot stops growing. However, the growing points, or meristems, of grasses lie at the base of each stem between the leaves so that regrowth is possible following removal of the tip by grazers, fire, or lawnmowers. The meristems of the grass leaf are also basally positioned and therefore similarly protected.

      Grasses produce seed through cross-pollination between plants (the most common reproductive condition in plants) and by two other methods: self-fertilization and asexual reproduction. Many grasses, including some weeds and cereals, have developed the capacity for self-fertilization, not only making it possible for a single plant to reproduce after long-distance dispersal but also enhancing the chances of preserving successful gene combinations, or genotypes, that crossing would disrupt. This fixation of successful genotypes benefits weeds because genes permitting effective colonization of an available site persist through generations.

      Grasses in about 35 genera produce seed without fertilization; the egg contains a full complement of genes and does not need to fuse with a sperm to produce a zygote. This unusual reproductive mode, called apomixis, leads to clonal reproduction in that all offspring are by and large genetically identical to the parent. Apomicts such as several species of Poa (bluegrass) and Sorghum (sorghum) enjoy the same advantages as self-pollinators in being able to establish themselves after long-distance dispersal and in the perpetuation of successful genotypes. In addition, many apomicts are also capable of sexual reproduction for a flexible reproductive pattern.

      Many grasses reproduce clonally through vegetative parts. The most common means of such spreading involve rhizomes (rhizome) (horizontal underground stems that send shoots aboveground) and stolons (horizontal aboveground shoots that may produce vertical shoots). Phragmites australis is not only one of the most widely distributed plants—its fruits are borne in parachute-like containers that are carried by the wind—but also one of the most successful at dominating appropriate habitats. Its rhizomes rapidly infest moist-to-saturated soils of swamps, ponds, streams, and banks to the eventual exclusion of almost all other plants.

      Grasses display a wide variety of adaptations for dispersal (dispersion) and establishment of seeds. Awns (bristlelike projections), hairs, spines, and barbs on the spikelets or their parts catch onto the fur of passing animals. Members of the genus Cenchrus are commonly known as bur grass or sandburs (sandbur) because they grow in sandy areas, such as beaches, and their spikelets are beset with barbed spines that readily cling to animal fur or painfully attach themselves to the feet of people walking on the beach. Hairs may also perform like parachutes in retarding the fall and thereby increasing the dispersal of seeds. Large grazing animals, birds, small mammals, and other animals eat grasses and disperse the seeds that pass through their digestive tract.

Economic and ecological importance
      Grasses dominate large expanses of the middle of continents, such as the North American prairies, South American pampas, African veld, and Eurasian steppes. No single climate generates grasslands (grassland); they develop in areas with wide ranges of rainfall (from semiarid to subhumid) and temperature.

      Native grasslands develop where there are frequent fires (fire) and droughts, level to gently rolling topography, and in some instances grazing animals and special soil conditions. Fire is pervasive in natural grasslands—early settlers of the North American grasslands, for example, recorded spectacular annual fires—and beneficial in that a fire recycles nutrients bound in dead plants into the soil for use by living plants. Persistence of grasslands depends on the exclusion of competing woody species that would supplant the grasses. Because fires tend to occur most readily during dry seasons when grass roots, rhizomes, and seeds are protected in the soil and woody plant stems are fully exposed, they tend to do more damage to woody plants than to grasses. Fire alone, however, will not maintain grasslands, because some trees are tolerant of fire. Periodic drought damages the exposed stems of woody vegetation more than the buried underground parts or seeds of grasses. Further, the composition of grasslands has been partially regulated by large herbivores, such as the buffalo on the North American prairie whose grazing suppresses the invasion of woody plants into the grassland and, like fire and drought, may actually stimulate the growth of grasses.

      Often, a small number of species dominates a grassland. For example, on the true North American prairie, which stretches from southern Manitoba to Texas and forms the eastern edge of grasslands in North America, Andropogon gerardi (big bluestem), Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem), Sporobolus heterolepis (prairie dropseed), and Stipa spartea (porcupine grass) are the primary grasses. These species occur in varying proportions and are joined by other grasses, depending on climatic and other factors.

      Grasses have adapted to the full range of environmental extremes occupied by plants, from the coldest regions and highest elevations where plants grow to equatorial heat, and from fully aquatic habitats to deserts. These remarkably adaptable plants play significant, sometimes dominant, roles in many plant communities, such as freshwater and saltwater marshes, tundras, meadows, and disturbed habitats. In addition, civilization creates temporary habitats for many grasses including not only lawn, pasture, and crop species but also weeds. The competitive ability and adaptability that has made grasses dominant over much of the Earth have produced some of the world's most pernicious weeds. Weedy grasses invade and colonize disturbed habitats. While this is not a concern on roadsides, abandoned farmlands, vacant lots, and other low-value land, weedy grasses do seriously devalue cultivated areas such as lawns, pastures, and croplands. Phragmites australis, for example, is spread vigorously by rhizomes, threatening agriculture wherever there are lowlands or bodies of water near arable fields or pastures.

      Natural forces, such as windstorms or fire, may disturb forests and other vegetation not dominated by grasses and thereby open a habitat for weedy grasses. The ancestors of modern weedy grasses may have evolved as a result of such natural disturbances.

      Except for the woody bamboos, grasses lack the stature needed to compete with trees for light and to elevate their flowers into the forest canopy for wind-dispersal of pollen. All major habitats of grasses are open and largely devoid of trees. Nevertheless, many grasses normally grow in the understory of temperate and tropical forests. Herbaceous grasses of the subfamily Bambusoideae are generally limited to lowland tropical forests, and some of them (e.g., Pariana) have overcome the relative absence of wind currents by evolving adaptations to insect pollination.

      The economic importance of grasses lies in their role as an important food source. Up to 70 percent of the world's agricultural land is given to crop grasses, and more than 50 percent of the world's calories come from grasses, particularly the cereals. Most grasses produce an edible grain, the bulk of which, the endosperm, provides a rich source of carbohydrates for the germinating embryo. Also called the germ, the embryo contains protein, oil, and some vitamins.

 At least 300 grass species are known to be harvested in the wild as cereals (cereal), and about 35 are or have been domesticated (domestication). Ironically, most crop grasses were originally successful weeds. Some of the traits that have made weeds successful, such as their ability to colonize rapidly and to produce an abundance of seeds, are also desirable in crops. Domestication, the propagation of selected individuals, leads to uniform population maturity, loss of natural seed dispersal, and an increase in the yield of harvestable seed. These changes enhance the quality of cereal crops. Grasses that produce desirable grain but that are not adaptable to agricultural habitats, however, have not become domesticated. Zizania aquatica (see photograph—>), the wild rice of North America, has been harvested extensively from wild stands, but its requirement of deep-water habitats precluded its domestication until recently.

      Cultivation (agriculture, origins of) of the cereals began about 10,000 years ago as a major part of the shift from hunting and gathering to plant and animal husbandry, a transition that stimulated rapid social and cultural evolution. From the beginning of their domestication, bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), oats (Avena sativa), and rye (Secale cereale) in the Middle East; sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) in Africa; rice (Oryza sativa) in Southeast Asia; and corn (maize [Zea mays]) in Central America have supported the rise of many civilizations.

      The earliest evidence of cereal domestication appears in Southwest Asia about 7000 BC, when domesticated barley that was totally dependent on humans for seed dispersal first appeared in several Middle Eastern sites. (Some investigators believe the domestication of barley may have originated in Ethiopia.) Over the next 4,000 years the practice of growing wheat and barley spread north and west to Europe, and by 3000 BC these cereals had reached China. Bread wheat, known widely in the Middle East by 6000 BC, is strictly a domesticated species; it arose serendipitously when different species of wheat were grown together.

      The processes of hybridization and polyploidization (polyploidy) have produced many valuable crops. Normally during sexual reproduction, two haploid gametes (n) fuse to form a diploid zygote (2n). In polyploidy, one or both gametes remain diploid because the chromosomes fail to separate during an early stage of meiosis. Consequently, fusion of three or more complete sets of chromosomes produce offspring that may be incapable of reproducing with the parent strain and thus constitute a new species. The importance of this condition rests in the larger store of genes, which imparts a greater evolutionary potential on the hybrid. Hybridization is important because, in crossing breeds, a more uniform product replaces the often heterogenous parent generations.

      An example of the improvement that results from these two evolutionary processes can be found in the gradual domestication of wheat. Among wheats there are three levels of ploidy, or sets of chromosome complements: diploid (2n), the normal condition; tetraploid (2n = 14, resulting from the fusion of diploid gametes); and hexaploid (2n = 21). An example of a domesticated diploid wheat is einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum), one of the earliest domesticated wheat species. Hybridization of a diploid wheat with Aegilops speltoides (a closely allied species of grass), followed by doubling of the chromosome complement, produced tetraploid wheats. In one of these, emmer wheat (T. dicoccon), the grain is tightly clasped by the hull (lemma and palea), a characteristic of wild species that depend on the hull for dispersal. Threshing and winnowing—the separation of chaff from grain—is far easier when the hull separates freely from the grain, as in the cultivated tetraploid macaroni wheat (T. durum (durum wheat)), a major commercial wheat species. The development of bread wheat (T. aestivum), a hexaploid wheat, involved the hybridization of a tetraploid wheat with A. tauschii, a closely allied diploid species of grass, followed by chromosome doubling to 42.

      Plant breeders have developed many cultivars of wheat closely adapted to different growing conditions; there are more than 200 cultivars grown in North America alone. Many others were mainstays of the Green Revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which bred wheat and other crops specially adapted to the ecological conditions in the agriculturally less developed parts of the world. What makes bread wheat the most widely cultivated plant in the world today is its adaptability to a wide range of growing conditions, ease of harvesting and handling, and high nutritional value. Gluten, its seed protein, forms the elastic matrix of leavened bread.

      The domestication of rice dates to about 4000 BC in mainland Southeast Asia (Thailand, Myanmar [Burma], and South China). Cultivation of this species usually involves flooded conditions in paddies, although it is also grown in upland conditions. Almost half of the world's rice cultivation takes place in China and India and less than 1 percent in the United States. The immediate product of harvesting, brown rice, may be converted to white rice for a visually appealing but nutritionally inferior grain, with reduced protein and B vitamins. The thousands of rice cultivars supply the basic food for more than half of the world.

       corn (maize) was first grown in the highlands of west-central Mexico about 6000 to 5000 BC. (The term corn is confusing outside of the United States, where it refers to cereals in general.) Corn differs strikingly from Middle Eastern cereals as it is much larger, and as a member of the Panicoideae it is adapted to warm seasons. Its flowers are unisexual—staminate (male) flowers are clustered in a tassel, and pistillate (female) flowers are found in an ear. Considerable controversy surrounds the origin of the totally unique ear of corn. A leading hypothesis derives the ear from the tassel of a teosinte (Zea maya subspecies parviglumis), a wild relative of corn. Its large grain is naked (not enclosed in a husk) and it remains attached to the axis or cob at maturity.

      With its high nutritional value and adaptability, corn became the staple crop of all agricultural peoples in the Western Hemisphere by the 1st century BC. One of the first uses of the corn kernels was for popping. Corn can be ground into tortillas, an unleavened “bread,” parched, or prepared with wood ashes or shells to make a hominy. The use of lime from wood ashes or another source played a significant role in the diets of people who depended on corn as a staple because, without the lime treatment, it lacks a sufficient amount of the vitamin niacin. Corn breeders have exploited the vigour inherent in hybrid lines to generate tremendous yields of the grain.

       sorghum cultivation extends back to about 3000 BC in northern and eastern Africa. It is now the fourth largest cereal crop. Its wild ancestors include several subspecies that persist in the wild on African savannas. Sorghum grains are a rich source of protein (approximately 15 percent of its weight), and its sap is concentrated into molasses. Broomcorn is a cultivar of sorghum grown for the stalks that are used to make brooms.

      The centres of early domestication of the major cereals were the sites of other cultivated grasses as well, the most notable being the millets (millet): proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) and foxtail millet (Setaria italica) in Asia; pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum) and finger millet (Eleusine coracana) in Africa and India; and Job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi) in Asia. Like sorghum, all these so-called minor cereals belong to the Chloridoideae or Panicoideae. In each of these agricultural centres, members of the pea or bean family (Fabaceae, also called Leguminosae), such as lentils, soybeans, chickpeas, peas, and various beans, were almost as important as the grains.

      In terms of world production, four of the best known crops are members of the grass family: sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum), wheat, rice, and corn (maize). Barley and sorghum are among the top 20 grains in terms of production. Domestication of sugarcane is thought to have occurred in Southeast Asia after it was discovered that the stem is a rich source of sugar. This crop produces more calories per acre than any other crop, calories that are used in the form of table sugar, to generate alcohol to power automobiles, and for the manufacture of rum. Alcoholic beverages (alcoholic beverage) are distilled from other crop grasses: barley provides beer malt, rice is used in the production of sake, and corn for bourbon. Wheat, rye, corn, and barley contribute to the making of whiskeys and vodka.

      While the cereals and sugarcane are a primary food source, bamboos (bamboo) provide a remarkable range of useful products. It has been suggested that the tree grasses (or bamboos) provide more and more varied uses than any other plant on Earth. Young shoots of several species of Bambusa, Dendrocalamus, and Phyllostachys are important vegetables in the daily diet of the peoples of China, Japan, and Taiwan and a gourmet item in other parts of the world. In China, Southeast Asia, and Brazil, bamboos have been used in papermaking, and in India the majority of the pulp for paper production comes from bamboos, especially Dendrocalamus strictus. The extraordinary strength and lightness of bamboo stems make them an excellent building material in the construction of houses and temples, woven mats, and bowls, trays, and other vessels.

      Grasses also are used for livestock feed, erosion control, and turf.

Characteristic morphological features
      Although grasses superficially resemble other plants, most notably the rushes (family Juncaceae) and sedges (family Cyperaceae), these similarities are far outweighed by the numerous less-conspicuous differences in the structure and arrangement of reproductive parts, pollen development and structure, chromosome structure, and embryology.

      Grasses are perennial or annual and usually terrestrial and free-standing; they are rarely vines or aquatics. The root system consists not of a taproot, as in many dicotyledons, but of fine, fibrous roots. Corms and bulbs are sometimes present and prop roots may develop from the lower nodes or joints of the stem, as in corn. Grass stems, sometimes called culms, are herbaceous or woody, and they range from about 2 centimetres (0.79 inch) in some grasses of severe climates (Aciachne pulvinata) to 40 metres (131 feet) in height and 30 centimetres in diameter in bamboos (species of Dendrocalamus).

      As is true of other monocotyledons, woodiness or lignification does not develop from the annual production of lignified layers of tissue as in broad-leaved trees of such dicotyledons as oaks and maples. Instead, blocks of tough, fibrous cells associated with the xylem (water-conducting tissue), some lignification of the most common type of cells (parenchyma) in the stem, and silicification of the epidermis (outermost layer of cells) provide the structural rigidity of bamboo stems.

      The stems of grasses range from fully erect to prostrate. They are solitary to densely clumped, as in the so-called bunch grasses. Many grasses produce horizontal stems, either below ground (rhizomes) or above ground (stolons).

      The internodes, or stem regions between the nodes, are usually round in cross section and either hollow or filled with a spongy pith. What makes the grasses unusual, however, is their method of growth: they elongate by means of cell division and enlargement at the basal point of growth.

      Some of the structural strength required for grass plants to stand erect comes from the leaves, particularly the leaf sheaths. Arising at nodes and encircling the internode above, sheaths counter the tendency for the internode to bend at the basal growing point, where it is weakest.

      The other major part of the grass leaf is the blade. Grass leaves are borne singly at the nodes and, with minor exception, are arranged in two vertical ranks. Thus, a leaf, and most conspicuously its blade, is positioned directly under the blade two nodes above it. Structurally, this means that the point of leaf initiation alternates with each node; the leaf sheath grows to encircle the stem and overlap when the two points meet. Grass leaf blades are usually long and narrow, with parallel margins, but occasionally are in the shape of a lance, egg, arrow, or heart. The blades may be shorter than one centimetre or less than five metres in the larger bamboos. In grasses of such arid areas as the desert, the leaves may roll up to form long, thin tubes, thereby reducing surface area and water loss.

      The leaf veins (vascular bundles that transport water and nutrients) run parallel to one another. Special cells in the outermost cell layer of grass leaves contain silica bodies, which range from saddle-shaped to crescent- or dumbbell-shaped. These shapes are often used to distinguish large groups of grasses from one another. While silica bodies occur in the epidermis of other monocots, such as sedges, they do not show the great variability of form found among the grasses.

      At the junction of leaf sheath and blade, designated as the collar of the leaf, and on the side facing the stem, grass leaves bear a ligule, a small flange or ring of hairs, depending on the species, that may have evolved to prevent the entry of water into the leaf sheath. At the base of the blade, in some grasses, especially members of the subfamily Bambusoideae, the leaf is constricted and resembles a stalk or petiole. This pseudopetiole moves the leaf downward or upward at night, depending on the species.

      The most significant variation in the internal structure of grass leaves involves anatomical differences associated with two photosynthetic (photosynthesis) pathways: the pathway that synthesizes a four-carbon (C-4) compound and that which synthesizes a three-carbon (C-3) compound. The chief distinction between these two pathways is the presence of specialized, thick-walled photosynthetic cells located in sheaths surrounding vascular bundles in C-4 plants. These cells participate in the mechanism for assimilation of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into a four-carbon compound. Hence, plants with these features are called C-4 plants, as opposed to C-3 plants, which take up carbon dioxide into a three-carbon compound.

      It is important to understand that both C-3 and C-4 plants use the C-3 route of CO2 fixation, the ultimate aim of which is the synthesis of sugars. In the C-4 cycle, however, there are additional steps before the CO2 is fixed into a three-carbon compound. In C-4 plants, carbon dioxide is fixed into a four-carbon compound (oxaloacetate) in the mesophyll and reduced to malate or aspartate, which is then transferred to the sheaths surrounding the vascular bundle. Here CO2 is removed from the malate or aspartate (decarboxylation) and refixed in the C-3 cycle, which produces 3-phosphoglycerate, a three-carbon compound.

      Although the C-4 cycle uses more energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), it is advantageous in hot tropical conditions. Under such conditions, plants tend to close their stomata when it is hot or dry, decreasing the flow of carbon dioxide into the bundle sheaths. The mesophyll readily fixes the carbon dioxide, which is concentrated as malate or aspartate in the mesophyll and is removed to the bundle sheaths, where the C-3 cycle proceeds. The higher concentration of carbon dioxide in the bundle sheaths facilitates the C-3 cycle, enabling the tropical plants to grow faster than their C-3 relatives.

      C-4 plants are more efficient at taking up carbon dioxide than are C-3 plants and tend to fare better in hot or dry climates. This climatic association of the C-4 syndrome is consistent with the fact that all members of subfamily Chloridoideae and most of the Panicoideae, the two large tropical subfamilies, are C-4 plants. A very small number of Arundinoideae are C-4 plants, while all the Bambusoideae and Pooideae are C-3 plants. The C-4 pathway represents an evolutionary specialization that has evolved in about 10 families of flowering plants and is particularly common in the grasses.

      The primary inflorescence of grasses is the spikelet, a small structure consisting of a short axis, the rachilla, to which are attached chaffy, two-ranked, closely overlapping scales. There are three kinds of scales. The lowermost, called glumes, are usually two in number, and they enclose some or all of the other scales. The other scales, the lemma and the palea, occur in pairs. Generally the lemma is larger than the palea, which is hidden between the lemma and the spikelet axis. The lemma and palea surround and protect the flower, and all three of these structures form the floret. Grass spikelets then simply consist of usually 2 glumes and 1 to about 50 florets, depending on the species.

      Spikelet structure is highly useful in the identification of grass species and genera, and it defines some large groups of grasses. Rice and its relatives, for example, produce spikelets without glumes. Spikelets of the Panicoideae contain two florets, a sterile or pollen-producing floret below a fruit-producing, and sometimes also a pollen-producing, floret. The entire spikelet breaks away from the plant as a unit for fruit dispersal. In contrast, the Pooideae often have more than two florets per spikelet—florets that do not produce fruit are located at the top rather than at the bottom of the spikelet—and the individual florets separate from one another for dispersal. Many bamboos develop pseudospikelets by the addition of scalelike structures at the base of the spikelet. These resemble glumes in not covering a flower, and they are thought to be leaves reduced to very small sheaths. Above these additional scales are the parts of a normal spikelet.

      Special spikelet structures aid in the dispersal (dispersion) and establishment of grass seeds. The backs or tips of glumes and lemmas may develop one or more awns, needlelike structures that may catch on animal fur. The base of the spikelet may be hardened into a pointed, hairy callus. The callus is usually best developed in spikelets with an awn that twists when atmospheric humidity changes. As the awn twists, it drills the spikelet into the soil. When atmospheric humidity changes again and the awn untwists, the spikelet is held in the ground by the callus hairs. This self-sowing may be repeated with each shift in humidity.

      Spikelets are the units of the secondary grass inflorescence. All major inflorescence types occur in grasses, and a certain type or variant of that type is often characteristic of a species or group of species. In the wheats, for example, the spikelets are attached to a central axis without a stalk or pedicel. This kind of inflorescence also characterizes relatives of wheat, such as barley and rye. The bluegrasses of the genus Poa, in contrast, have a panicle inflorescence, with the spikelets borne on distinct pedicels.

      Grass flowers (flower) are minute and highly simplified compared with the flowers of most other plants. Hidden within the lemma and palea, they are evident only by the brief appearance of some of their parts during flowering. In place of the petals there are translucent structures called lodicules. They are two or three (rarely none or up to six) in number and too small to be seen well without magnification. They vary in shape, but all function similarly in that they swell rapidly when the flower is mature and force apart the lemma and palea. Opening of the floret makes possible exsertion of the anthers (pollen sacs) on their filaments and stigmas (the receptive surface for pollen) for exchange of pollen between individuals (cross- pollination).

      Grass flowers are adapted for wind-pollination. There are no brightly coloured or strongly scented parts to attract animal pollinators, nor is there any nectar to reward animals for transporting pollen between flowers. Instead, there is an abundance of pollen contained in usually 3, less commonly as few as 1 or as many as 6, and exceptionally up to 120 (in Ochlandra), anthers. The smooth, lightweight pollen travels well on air currents, and two (less often three) feathery stigmas catch the airborne pollen. The stigmas of corn, collectively referred to as the silk, are unusual in two ways: there is only one stigma per flower, and they are very long. Pollen tubes must grow as long as 25 centimetres to reach the ovary. After pollen shedding and reception, the lodicules shrink and the floret closes to protect the developing fruit.

      In more than 300 grass species, some of the florets do not open at flowering because they are confined (cleistogamous). Most commonly, retention of spikelets within leaf sheaths prevents their opening and enforces self-pollination, but in a few species, such as Amphicarpum purshii of the Atlantic coastal plain of North America, some of the spikelets are produced on stems that grow down into the soil. The common name of this plant, peanutgrass, reflects its habit of burying its own seed, but, unlike the peanut itself, peanutgrass burial begins before flowering.

      One of the most unusual flowering phenomena occurs in many bamboos (bamboo). All plants of a species flower at about the same time at lengthy intervals, and then the plants die. Cycles of about 30 and 60 years are known, and the longest cycle is 120 years in Asian Phyllostachys bambusoides. Individual aerial stems may live for much less time than their species cycle and will only flower at the end of the cycle when an inborn signal initiates the formation of inflorescences. Such gregarious flowering may oversaturate the food supply of frugivores (fruit-eating animals) and assure bamboo reproduction. This phenomenon, however, seriously affects the normal balance of nature. Animals dependent on bamboo vegetative growth, such as the panda, may lose a favoured food source entirely after a flowering episode. A glut of bamboo fruits may incite an explosion in populations of rodents that eat the fruits. For example, flowering of the muli, or terai, bamboo (Melocanna bambusoides) in its native habitat around the Bay of Bengal in cycles of mostly 30 to 35 years leads to disaster. With the death of the bamboo, an important building material is lost and the accumulation of the avocado-sized fruits promotes a rapid increase in rodent populations. Rodent overpopulations also lead to loss of human food supplies and epidemics of rodent-carried diseases.

      Grass flowers may be bisexual (with both pollen and ovules) or unisexual. The flowers of wheat, barley, oats, and rye are bisexual; the flowers of corn are unisexual, although inflorescences for pollen (the tassle) and others for fruit (the ear) are on the same plant. The production of male or female gametes on separate individuals is rare in plants. The common buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides) of the American Great Plains is one of only 18 genera of grasses with this complete separation of pollen and fruit.

      Grass fruits, also called grains (caryopsis) or caryopses, are unusual among plants in that the fruit wall completely adheres to the single seed (seed and fruit). Caryopses are generally dry. In some grasses, the fruit does not fuse with the seed coat, and in some bamboos the fruit is a berry since the fruit wall becomes juicy.

      The seed itself consists of two major parts, endosperm and embryo. Endosperm is a starchy, storage tissue (popcorn is exploded endosperm). The embryo lies between the endosperm and fruit wall with the large scutellum facing the endosperm. The scutellum is thought to be a modified cotyledon, or seed leaf. In grasses this seed leaf never develops into a green structure but serves only to digest endosperm and transfer nutrients to the rest of the embryo. The remainder of the embryo is an axis with primordial shoot and root systems. The shoot system consists of the shoot apex and its embryonic leaves, which are covered by the coleoptile. The mesocotyl connects the shoot system to the point of attachment of the scutellum. The primary root, which is replaced by secondary, fibrous roots after germination, is covered by the coleorhiza (root sheath).

Evolution
      There is no clear evidence for the geographic place of origin of the grasses. Some authorities have suggested that grasses evolved within or on the margins of tropical forests. As Bambusoideae generally grow in forests and retain primitive features in their flowers, they were possibly the first grasses. However, they may be the most primitive extant grasses, numerous specializations reveal considerable evolutionary advancement. From these forest dwellers an early offshoot, perhaps similar to modern Arundinoideae, extended into savannas and gave rise to, and was partially supplanted by, Chloridoideae and Panicoideae in the tropics and pooids at higher latitudes. Alternately pooidlike grasses may have come first, evolving on tropical mountains and spreading to plains and temperate regions.

      The meagre fossil remains of grasses do little to resolve questions of the origin of the family, its geologic age, relationships with other monocots, and evolution within the family. The oldest records of grass pollen are from about 60 million years ago during the Late Paleocene, but they did not become abundant until about 30 million years ago near the beginning of the Late Oligocene. The apparent upsurge of grasses likely stemmed from their coevolution with the then newly evolved groups of grazing animals and the aridification of the Earth's surface due to the rain shadow created by new mountains and growth of polar icecaps.

      Grasses have long been assumed to be closely related to sedges (family Cyperaceae) because they both are primarily herbaceous with long narrow leaves and minute wind-pollinated flowers borne in spikelets. Similarities between these two great families, however, most likely evolved as independent responses to the same environmental conditions. The closest extant relatives of grasses probably belong to a group of small families centred around the southern Pacific Ocean. One family in particular, the Joinvilleaceae, resembles grasses in some anatomical features of the leaves and embryos. Its flowers, however, have a well-developed perianth, and it lacks the other distinctive, easily recognizable features that mark grasses.

      Current geographic distribution of grass subfamilies, tribes (groups of genera within subfamilies), and even some modern genera on all or most continents suggests that these groups evolved well before the first half of the Tertiary Period, roughly 66 to 36 million years ago, when continents had become sufficiently separated to prevent dispersal between them.

      There are a number of reasons why so many genera and species of grasses exist today. In addition to the adaptations that make grasses ecologically successful, the grass spikelet has apparently been a competent means of protecting the flower, developing the fruit, and dispersing the seed. It has evolved into a myriad of forms by addition, loss, and modification of parts. Hybridization and polyploidy have undoubtedly spawned many grass species, as, for example, the wheats. Polyploidy and hybridization are usually linked because interspecific hybrids are often sterile, and fertility may be restored by chromosome doubling. An estimate of the incidence of polyploidy in the family, which is up to about 80 percent, indicates how frequently hybridization has taken place in grasses.

Christopher S. Campbell

Additional Reading
Richard W. Pohl, How to Know the Grasses, 3rd ed. (1978), a nontechnical guide to grass identification; W.D. Clayton and S.A. Renvoize, Genera Graminum: Grasses of the World (1986), exhaustive, up-to-date, and admirably prepared; G.L. Stebbins, “Co-evolution of Grasses and Herbivores,” Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 68(1):75–86 (1981), a relatively nontechnical but thorough discussion of the evolutionary interaction of grasses and grazers; J.M.J. Dewet, “Grasses and the Culture History of Man,” Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 68(1):87–104 (1979), a relatively nontechnical but thorough discussion of the domestication of cereals; Frank W. Gould and Robert B. Shaw, Grass Systematics, 2nd ed. (1983), covering all aspects of the study of grasses, with keys to the grass genera of the United States; James R. Estes, Ronald J. Tyrl, and Jere N. Brunken (eds.), Grasses and Grasslands: Systematics and Ecology (1982), a technical treatment of some aspects of grass evolution, classification, and ecology, covering structural and biochemical diversity, reproductive biology, evolution, systematics of major groups, taxonomic data and analysis, and the past, present, and future of the study of grasses; T.R. Soderstrom and C.E. Calderon, “A Commentary on the Bamboos (Poaceae: Bambusoideae),” Biotropica, 11(3):161–172 (1979), a general account of bamboo biology; F.A. Mcclure, The Bamboos: A Fresh Perspective (1966), a detailed discussion of their growth, reproduction, and classification; Christopher S. Campbell, “The Subfamilies and Tribes of Gramineae (Poaceae) in the Southeastern United States,” Journal of the Arnold Arboretum, 66(2):123–200 (1985), a technical treatment discussing biology, distribution, anatomy, morphology, evolution, and classification; Thomas R. Soderstrom et al. (eds.), Grass Systematics and Evolution (1987), the most thorough treatment of the systematics and evolution of the family; Paul C. Mangelsdorf, Corn: Its Origin, Evolution, and Improvement (1974); Robert W. Jugenheimer, Corn: Improvement, Seed Production, and Uses (1976, reprinted 1985); Frank Blackburn, Sugar-Cane (1984); D.H. Grist, Rice, 6th ed. (1986); D.E. Briggs, Barley (1978).

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