- This family is also known as Poaceae family.
- The family consists of plants that are generally cultivated as crop plants for food.
- They are terrestrial, annual herbs.
- They are typically monocotyledonous.
Roots: They have fibrous or adventitious root system. Some may have stilt roots (e.g. maize).
Stem:
- Stem is erect and herbaceous with distinct nodes and internodes.
- May be branched (branching from the base, i.e. tillering) or unbranched.
- It is cylindrical, ribbed, hollow and joined at the nodes.
- Greenish yellow in color and is liable to fall easily.
Leaves:
- Leaves are simple. They may be cauline, alternate, green and exstipulate.
- Entire margin with parallel venation and acute apex.
- Leaf base has a sheath and membranous ligule is present at the junction of leaf sheath and leaf blade.
Inflorescence:
- Terminal panicle, spike or spikelets
- Spikelet may be short stalked, consisting of a pair of glumes (e.g. barley).
- Male spikelets in terminal panicled racemes called tassel and female in axillary spikes called cob or ear (e.g. maize).
Flower:
- Bracteate, sessile, zygomorphic and may be bisexual (e.g. rice) or unisexual (e.g. maize).
- It is incomplete and hypogynous. Flower lies in between superior and inferior palea.
Perianth:
- It is represented by two broad, thick and fleshy lodicules.
Androecium:
- Stamens are either 3 (e.g barley, maize, wheat) or 6 (e.g. rice) in number and are polyandrous.
- Filament is long, anthers are bilobed and dorsifixed when young and versatile when mature.
Gynoecium:
- Monocarpellary and the ovary is superior.
- It is unilocular with a single basal ovule.
- Style may be present (e.g rice) or absent (e.g. wheat, barley).
- Stigma 2 and are feathery.
Fruit: Caryopsis
Floral diagram with floral formula (Oryza sativa or rice):
Some important plants of the family:
- Oryza sativa (Rice)
- Triticum aestivum (wheat)
- Zea mays (maize)
- Sorghum vulgare (broom corn)
- Eleusine coracan (millet)
- Sachharum officinarum (sugarcane)
- Hordeum vulgare (barley)
- Cymbopogan citramus (lemon grass)
- Dendrocalamus strictus (bamboo)
- Cynodon dactylon (dubo)
Economic importance:
- Food: Oryza sativa, Zea mays, Triticum aestivum, Hordeum vulgare, Sorghum vulgare Eleusine coracana are used as food for mankind.
- Zea mays, Cynodon, Poa, Saccharum are used as fodder.
- Saccharum officinarum is the source of sugar.
- Cymbopogan citratus gives reddish yellow oil with strong odour used in soaps and in medicine.
- Dendracalamus strictus stem is used for making baskets, htus, mats, furniture etc.
- Hordeum vulgaree barley water is used to expel stone from the kidney.
- Citronella oil is used as external insecticide.
- Andropogan odoratus yields ginger oil, which is used as digestive.
- Poa, Agrostris, Cynodon are ornamental plants.
Characteristic features and economic importance of family Gramineae