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Poaceae (true grasses)
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous[1] - Recent, 66–0Ma
File:Meadow Foxtail head.jpg
Flowering head of Meadow Foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis), with stamens exerted at anthesis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Type genus

There are 12 subfamilies:
Subfamily Anomochlooideae
Subfamily Pharoideae
Subfamily Puelioideae
Subfamily Bambusoideae
Subfamily Pooideae
Subfamily Ehrhartoideae
Subfamily Aristidoideae
Subfamily Arundinoideae
Subfamily Chloridoideae
Subfamily Panicoideae
Subfamily Danthonioideae
Subfamily Micrairoideae





Diagram of a typical lawn grass plant.

Grasses generally have the following characteristics (the image gallery can be used for reference):

Poaceae have hollow stems called culms plugged at intervals by solid leaf-bearing nodes. Grass leaves are nearly always alternate and distichous (in one plane), and have parallel veins. Each leaf is differentiated into a lower sheath hugging the stem and a blade with entire (i.e., smooth) margins. The leaf blades of many grasses are hardened with silica phytoliths, which discourage grazing animals; some, such as sword grass, are sharp enough to cut human skin. A membranous appendage or fringe of hairs called the ligule lies at the junction between sheath and blade, preventing water or insects from penetrating into the sheath.

Flowers of Poaceae are characteristically arranged in spikelets, each spikelet having one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes. A spikelet consists of two (or sometimes fewer) bracts at the base, called glumes, followed by one or more florets. A floret consists of the flower surrounded by two bracts, one external—the lemma—and one internal—the palea. The flowers are usually hermaphroditicmaize being an important exception—and anemophilous or wind-pollinated. The perianth is reduced to two scales, called lodicules, that expand and contract to spread the lemma and palea; these are generally interpreted to be modified sepals. This complex structure can be seen in the image on the right, portraying a wheat (Triticum aestivum) spikelet.

The fruit of Poaceae is a caryopsis, in which the seed coat is fused to the fruit wall.


Grass flowers

Growth and development



The success of the grasses lies in part in their morphology and growth processes, and in part in their physiological diversity. Most of the grasses divide into two physiological groups, using the C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways for carbon fixation. The C4 grasses have a photosynthetic pathway linked to specialized Kranz leaf anatomy that particularly adapts them to hot climates and atmospheres low in carbon dioxide.

The C3 grasses are referred to as "cool-season" grasses, while the C4 plants are considered "warm-season" grasses; they may be either annual or perennial.


Grass-dominated biomes are called grasslands. If only large, contiguous areas of grasslands are counted, these biomes cover 31% of the planet's land.[5] Grasslands include pampas, steppes, and prairies.


The evolution of large grazing animals in the Cenozoic contributed to the spread of grasses. Without large grazers, fire-cleared areas are quickly colonized by grasses, and with enough rain, tree seedlings. Trees eventually shade out and kill most grasses. Trampling grazers kill seedling trees but not grasses.[6]


Until recently, fossil findings indicated that grasses evolved around 55 million years ago. Recent findings of grass-like phytoliths in Cretaceous dinosaur coprolites have pushed this date back to 66 million years ago.[1][7] Indeed, revised dating of the origins of the rice tribe Oryzeae suggest a date as early as 107 to 129 Mya.[8]

The relationships among the subfamilies Bambusoideae, Ehrhartoideae and Pooideae in the BEP clade have been resolved: Bambusoideae and Pooideae are more closely related to each other than to Ehrhartoideae.[9] This separation occurred within a relatively short time span (about 4 million years).


The grass family is one of the most widely distributed and abundant groups of plants on Earth. Grasses are found on every continent,[10] and are absent only from central Greenland and much of Antarctica.[11]


Recent classifications of the grass family[12] recognize 12 subfamilies and a small number of taxa with uncertain placements:

Depending on the classification followed, the family includes around 668 genera.[3]


The Poaceae name was given by John Hendley Barnhart in 1895,[13] based on the tribe Poeae (described in 1814 by Robert Brown), and the type genus Poa (described in 1753 by Linnaeus). The term is derived from the Ancient Greek term for grass.


Grasses are, in human terms, perhaps the most economically important plant family. Grasses' economic importance stems from several areas, including food production, industry, and lawns.

Food production

Agricultural grasses grown for their edible seeds are called cereals or grains. Three cereals – rice, wheat, and maize (corn) – provide more than half of all calories eaten by humans.[14] Of all crops, 70% are grasses.[15] Cereals constitute the major source of carbohydrates for humans and perhaps the major source of protein, and include rice in southern and eastern Asia, maize in Central and South America, and wheat and barley in Europe, northern Asia and the Americas.

Sugarcane is the major source of sugar production. Many other grasses are grown for forage and fodder for animal feed, particularly for sheep and cattle, thereby indirectly providing more human calories.


Grasses are used for construction. Scaffolding made from bamboo is able to withstand typhoon-force winds that would break steel scaffolding.[5] Larger bamboos and Arundo donax have stout culms that can be used in a manner similar to timber, and grass roots stabilize the sod of sod houses. Arundo is used to make reeds for woodwind instruments, and bamboo is used for innumerable implements.


Phragmites australis (common reed) is important in water treatment, wetland habitat preservation and land reclamation in Afro-Eurasia.

Lawn and ornamental grasses

Grasses are the primary plant used in lawns, which themselves derive from grazed grasslands in Europe. They also provide an important means of erosion control (e.g., along roadsides), especially on sloping land.

Although supplanted by artificial turf in some games, grasses are still an important covering of playing surfaces in many sports, including football (soccer), tennis, golf, cricket, softball and baseball.

Ornamental grasses, such as perennial bunch grasses, are used in many styles of garden design for their foliage, inflorescences, seed heads, and slope stabilization. They are often used in natural landscaping, xeriscaping, contemporary or modern landscaping, wildlife gardening, and native plant gardening.

Economically important grasses

Grain crops
Leaf and stem crops
Lawn grasses
Ornamental grasses (Horticultural)
Model organisms

Grasses and society

Grasses have long had significance in human society. They have been cultivated as feed for domesticated animals for up to 10,000 years, and have been used to make paper since the second century AD.[citation needed] Also, the primary ingredient of beer is usually barley or wheat, both of which have been used for this purpose for over 4,000 years.[citation needed]

Some common aphorisms involve grass. For example:


A folk myth about grass is that it refuses to grow where any violent death has occurred.[16]


See the full list of Poaceae genera.

Image gallery

See also


  1. 1.0 1.1 Piperno, D. R.; Sues, H.D. (2005). "Dinosaurs Dined on Grass". Science 310 (5751): 1126hor = Piperno, D.R. PMID 16293745. doi:10.1126/science.1121020. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Stevens, P.F. "Angiosperm Phylogeny Website". Retrieved 2007-10-07. 
  4. David Attenborough (1984). The Living Planet. British Broadcasting Corporation. pp. 113–4. ISBN 0-563-20207-6. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 George Constable (ed), ed. (1985). Grasslands and Tundra. Planet Earth. Time Life Books. p. 20. ISBN 0-8094-4520-4. 
  6. David Attenborough (1984). The Living Planet. British Broadcasting Corporation. p. 137. 
  7. Prasad, V.; Stroemberg, C.A.E.; Alimohammadian, H.; Sahni, A. (2005). "Dinosaur Coprolites and the Early Evolution of Grasses and Grazers". Science(Washington) 310 (5751): 1177–1180. PMID 16293759. doi:10.1126/science.1118806. 
  8. Prasad V, Strömberg CA, Leaché AD, Samant B, Patnaik R, Tang L, Mohabey DM, Ge S, Sahni A. (2011). Late Cretaceous origin of the rice tribe provides evidence for early diversification in Poaceae. Nat Commun. 2:480. doi:10.1038/ncomms1482 PMID 21934664
  9. Wu ZQ, Ge S (2011) The phylogeny of the BEP clade in grasses revisited: Evidence from the whole-genome sequences of chloroplasts. Mol Phylogenet Evol
  10. Sarandón, Ramiro (1988). Biología poblacional del gramon (Cynodon spp., gramineae). p. 189. Retrieved 22 April 2014. 
  11. "Angiosperm phylogeny website". Retrieved 2007-10-07. 
  12. "Catalogue of New World Grasses". Retrieved 2012-03-01. 
  13. Barnhart, J.H. (1895) Poaceae. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 22: 7.

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