What are Grasses?
Grasses are very basic plants with a root, stem and flower. They are monocots, having the vascular tissue of the stems in scattered bundles. Grasses have simple linear leaves with sheathing or clasping bases, parallel veins and entire margins. The stems are round and have joints at the nodes. The leaves are clustered at the base with up to 15 joints in the first inch of the stem becoming farther apart as they progress up the stem. The leaves have two main parts, the sheath and the blade. The sheath clasps around the stem and the blade extends outward. Being wind-pollinated and wind-dispersed, they need no bright colors, fragrances, or nectar to attract insects for pollination. The flowers are small and inconspicuous with the petals and sepals reduced to basic lobes of tissue. The flowering part, situated at the end of the stem, is called the inflorescence. This flower cluster is made up of smaller units called spikelets. Spikelets are made up of florets enclosed by leaf-like structures
