Grass isa type of plant with narrow leaves
growing from the base. Their appearance as a
common plant was in the mid-Cretaceous
period. There are 12, 000 species now.[3]
A common kind of grass is used to cover the
ground in places such as lawns and parks.
Grass is usually the color green. That is
because they are wind-pollinated rather than
insect-pollinated, so they do not have to
attract insects. Green is the best colour for
photosynthesis.
Grasslands such as savannah and prairie
where grasses are dominant cover 40.5% of
the land area of the Earth, except Greenland
and Antarctica.[4]
Grasses are monocotyledon herbaceous
plants. They include the "grass" of the family
Poaceae which are called grass by people. This family is also called the
Gramineae, and includes some of the sedges
(Cyperaceae) and the rushes (Juncaceae).[5]
These three families are not very closely
related, though all of them belong to clades in
the order Poales. They are similar adaptations
to a similar life-style.
With around 780 genera and around 12, 000
species, [3] the Poaceae is the fifth-largest
plant family, after the Asteraceae,
Orchidaceae, Fabaceae and Rubiaceae.[6]
The true grasses include cereals, bambo0
and the grasses of lawns (turf) and grassland.
Uses for graminoids include food (as grain,
sprouted grain, shoots or rhizomes), drink
(beer, whisky), pasture for livestock, thatching
thatch, paper, fuel, clothing, insulation,
construction, sports turf, basket weaving and
many others.
