GRASSES, gramineltt or graminame, a natural order of endogenous plants, containing almost 4,000 known species, about one-twentieth of all known plianerogamous plants; whilst the social habit of many of them, and the vast number of individual plants within even a limited tract, give them a still greater proportion to the whole phanerogamous vegetation of the earth. They are distributed over all parts of the world; some are characteristic of the warmest tropical regions, and some of the vicinity of perpetual snow; but they abound most of all, and particularly in their social character, clothing the ground with verdure, and forming the chief vegetation of meadows and pastures, in the northern temperate zone. There is no kind of soil which is not suitable to some or other of the grasses; and whilst some are peculiar to dry and sterile soils, others are only found on rich soils with abundant moisture; some grow in marshes, stagnant waters, or slow streams, some only on the sea-coast; none are truly marine. Some grasses are annual, and some perennial; they have fibrous roots; the root-stock often throws out runners; the stems (calms) are round, jointed, generally hollow, except at the joints, rarely filled with pith, generally annual, and of humble growth, but some times perennial and woody, occasionally—as in bamboos—attaining the height and mag nitude of trees, The leaves are long and narrow, alternate, and at the base sheath the calm; the sheath is split on the side opposite to that from which the blade springs; and at the junction of the blade and sheath, there is often a short membranous prolongation of the epidermis of the sheath, called the ligule. The flowers are generally hermaphro dite, but sometimes unisexual, and more frequently so in the grasses of tropical than in those of colder climates; they are disposed in spikelets, and these again generally in spikes, racemes, or panicles; they have no proper calyx nor corolla, but consist of the parts of fructification inclosed in two series of small bracts, some or all of which are sometims awned. See Alvx. The two outer bracts of each spikelet are called gluntes. In some grasses, only one glume is properly developed for each spikelet. Within the glumes are the .lorets forming the spikelet, sometimes only one, but often a larger num ber, each floret having generally two small bracts called palece or glumella, the imme diate covering of the parts of fructification. The glumes were. called the calyx by the older botanists, and the palm the corolla, but inaccurately, The stamens are hypogy 110119, sometimes only one, sometimes six or more, but very generally three, the anthers attached to the filaments by the middle of their back, and easily moved by the slightest breeze. The ovary is simple, one-celled; the styles two or three, sometimes united; the stigmas feathery or hairy. The fruit is a caryopsis, the pericarp being incorporated with the seed; the seed consists of a small embryo, lying at the base and on the outside of a large farinaceous albumen, from which arises in great part the extreme importance of this order of plants to man; the farinaceous seeds of some of the grasses being the corn or grain which form a chief part of human food. The grasses cultivated on this account are noticed in the article CEREALIA and in separate articles. Starch is the principal sub stance entering into the composition of these farinaceous seeds, and is often extracted from them, either to be used by itself as an article of food, or for other economical purposes, according to the kind. Besides starch, they contain, in greater or less proportions, gluten and other similar substances, on which not a little of their nutritive value depends. The peculiarities of composition of the most important grains are noticed in the article BREAD, or under their separate heads. "When, by the process of malting (see BEER), great part of the starch of the grain has been converted ii to sugar, a fer mented liquor is made from it, of which beer or ale made from barley is the most familiar example; and from this, again, a spirituous liquor—as whisky—is obtained by distillation. Fermented and spirituous liquors are commonly made from different
kinds of grain in different parts of the world, particularly barley, maize, rice, and millet.—Sugar is another important product of grasses, existing in large quantity in the stems of many species, and particularly abounding in the soft, internal 'part of some, as sugar-cane, maize, and shaloo or sugar-grass (sorghum saccharatum, see DURRA), from which it is extracted for use. The sugarcane yields far more sugar than all the other plants cultivated on that account in the world. Rum—obtained by fermentation and distillation from sugar—is another well-known product of the sugar-cane, and similar liquors may be obtained from the other sugar-producing grasses.—Besides these uses, grasses are also of great importance as affording pasture and fodder (hay and straw) for cattle. Sec FODDER.—Tlia woody stems of the larger grasses are applied to a great variety of economical purposes. See BAMBOO. Those of some of the smaller grasses are much used for thatch, and are also made by plaiting into straw-hats, ladies' bonnets, etc. See STRAW-MANUFACTURES.—The underground runners of some species, as the marrum grass and sea lyme grass, make them particularly useful for binding and fixing loose sands.—Thes stems and leaves of many grasses have fibers of such length and strength that they are twisted into coarse ropes for many purposes in which no great durability is required. Thus, hay and straw Topes are commonly used on every farm in Britain, and different grasses are used in the same way in many parts of the world. Some grasses, as the moonja (saccharum munja) of India, are not simply twisted into ropes, but their fibers are first separated by moistening and beating; and the ,fibers of some, as the esparto (q.v.) of Spain, are made not. drily into ropes, but into mats, sacks, and other very coarse fabrics.—The Chinese make paper from the young shoots of bamboo; paper is also made from the straw of rye, wheat, barley, and oats, and might be made from that of many grasses. See PAPER.—The perennial roots and 'runners of some grasses contain peculiar substances, on account of which they are used medicin ally, as those of couch-grass. The stems and leaves of some contain coumarin (q.v), and have a very agreeable fragrance when dried, as in the case of the sweet-scented vernal grass (antharanthum odoratum) of Britain. A few, chiefly East Indian species,. contain other aromatic and fragrant substances in the stem and root particularly lemon grass, vittievayr, and other species of andropoyon, which yield grass-oil (q.v.).—It has been alleged that the seeds of a few grasses are poisonous, but this in every case requires confirmation, although darnel (q.v.) in particular has a bad reputation.—The stems, 'eaves, and glumes of grasses contain a large proportion of silica, particularly the epidermis, so that when large quantities of them are burned, a sort of glass is formed; a fact which. requires attention in questions relative to the manures proper for particu lar crops, and the most profitable alternation of crops in husbandry. The following are the tribes into which botanists have divided the natural orar of grasses, with the names of some of the most important, as examples: The word grass is probably from the same root as Lat. cresco, Eng. grow.
Among farmers, the term grasses is extended to include, along with the true grasses, other plants cultivated for fodder and forage, such as clover, etc., and these are dis tinguished by the term artificial grasses, whilst the true grasses arc called natural grasses.