Paul M Peterson, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA
Published online: July 2003
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003689
The grass family (Poaceae or Gramineae) is the fourth largest flowering plant family and contains about 11 000 species in 800 genera worldwide. Twenty-three genera contain 100 or more species or about half of all grass species, and almost half of the 800 genera are monotypic or diatypic, i.e. with only one or two species.
Keywords: caryopsis; grains; gramineae; grasses; poaceae; spikelet
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Figure 1. Diagnostic features of a grass, Festuca californica Vasey: caryopsis, culm, floret, flower and spikelet. Illustrated by Alice R. Tangerini.
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| Further Reading | |
| Axelrod DI (1985) Rise of the grassland biome, central North America. Botanical Review 51: 163–201. | |
| Bentham G (1881) Notes on Gramineae. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 19: 14–134. | |
| book Brown R (1814) "Gramineae". Mathew Flinders, A Voyage to Terra Australis, pp. 580–583. London: W Bulmer & Company. | |
| book Chapman GP and Peat WE (1992) An Introduction to the Grasses (Including Bamboos and Cereals. Wallingford: CAB International. | |
| book Gould FW and Shaw RB (1983) Grass Systematics, 2nd edn. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. | |
| GPWG (Grass Phylogeny Working Group) (2001) Phylogeny and subfamilial classification of the grasses (Poaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 88: 373–457. | |
| book Harrington HD (1977) How to Identify Grasses and Grasslike Plants. Chicago: Swallow Press. | |
| book Hitchcock AS (1935) "Manual of Grasses of the United States". US Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication 200. | |
| book Hitchcock AS and Chase A (1951) "Manual of Grasses of the United States (Revised)". US Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication 200. | |
| book Jacobs WLJ and Everett J (eds) (2000) Grasses: Systematics and Evolution. Collingwood: CSIRO. | |
| book Simpson BB and Conner-Orgorzaly M (1986) Economic Botany: Plants in Our World. New York: McGraw-Hill. | |
| Soreng RJ and Davis JI (1998) Phylogenetics and character evolution in the grass family (Poaceae): simultaneous analysis of morphological and chloroplast DNA restriction site character sets. Botanical Review 64: 1–90. | |
| book Soreng RJ, Davidse G, Peterson PM et al. (2000) "Catalogue of New World grasses". Suprageneric classification. http://mobot.mobot.org/W3T/Search/nwgc.html | |
| book Walter KS and Gillett HJ (eds) (1997) 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. Cambridge: The World Conservation Union. | |
| book Watson L and Dallwitz MJ (1992) The Grass Genera of the World. Cambridge: University Press. | |
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