Trapped In Time - Chapter 77

Grass blades grow at the base of the blade and not from elongated stem tips. This low growth point evolved in response to grazing animals and allows grasses to be grazed or mown regularly without severe damage to the plant.

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 are “warm season” grasses. These have a photosynthetic pathway, linked to specialized Kranz leaf anatomy, which allows for increased water use efficiency, rendering them better adapted to hot, arid environments and those lacking in carbon dioxide.

The C3 grasses are referred to as “cool-season” grasses.

Annual cool-season – wheat, rye, annual bluegrass (annual meadowgrass, Poa annua), and oat.

Perennial cool-season – orchardgrass (cocksfoot, Dactylis glomerata), fescue (Festuca spp.), Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne).

Annual warm-season – maize, sudangrass, and pearl millet

Perennial warm-season – big bluestem, Indiangrass, Bermudagrass and switchgrass.

“Wow! so much information. I never knew that the cereals we ate were also from the grasses. This is great information.” Shena replied who had been listening with great attention.

“Is there more information or is that it?” asked Chris.

“The information I am giving you is already in your World Wide Web or Internet as you call it,” the grass replied.

“Yes there is more. I have just given you the overview. I have not been programmed to go into detail full details.

“Anyway, please listen to the rest of what I have to say.”

Thereafter you may ask questions, if any, and I will try to answer as long as they are in my program.”

“Here is the rest of the information about grasses.” After saying this the grass again started to speak via its chip.

Grasses are unusual in that the meristem is located near the bottom of the plant; hence, they can quickly recover from cropping at the top. The evolution of large grazing animals in the Cenozoic Era 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 outcompeted most grasses. Trampling grazers kill seedling trees but not grasses.

There are about 12,000 grass species in about 771 genera that are classified into 12 subfamilies.

Grasses are, in human terms, perhaps the most economically important plant family. Their economic importance stems from several areas, including food production, industry, and lawns. They have been grown as food for domesticated animals for up to 6,000 years and the grains of grasses such as wheat, rice, maize (corn) and barley have been the most important human food crops. Grasses are also used in the manufacture of thatch, paper, fuel, clothing, insulation, timber for fencing, furniture, scaffolding and construction materials, floor matting, sports turf, and baskets.

Agricultural grasses grown for their edible seeds are called cereals or grains (although the latter term, agriculturally, refers to both cereals and legumes). Of all crops grown, 70% are grasses. Three kinds of cereal—rice, wheat, and maize (corn)—provide more than half of all calories consumed by humans. Cereals constitute the major source of carbohydrates for humans and perhaps the major source of protein, including 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. Additional food uses of sugarcane include sprouted grain, shoots, and rhizomes, and in drink, they include sugarcane juice and plant milk, as well as rum, beer, whiskey, and vodka.

Lemongrass is a grass used as a culinary herb for its citrus-like flavor and scent.

Many species of grass are grown as pasture for foraging or as fodder for prescribed livestock feeds, particularly in the case of cattle, horses, and sheep. Such grasses may be cut and stored for later feeding, especially for the winter, in the form of bales of hay or straw, or in silos as silage. Straw (and sometimes hay) may also be used as bedding for animals.

In the industry, grasses are used as raw material for a multitude of purposes, including construction and in the composition of building materials such as cob, for insulation, in the manufacture of paper and board such as Oriented structural straw board. Grass fiber can be used for making paper, and for biofuel production. Bamboo scaffolding is able to withstand typhoon-force winds that would break steel scaffolding. Larger bamboos and Arundo donax have stout culms that can be used in a manner similar to timber, Arundo is used to make reeds for woodwind instruments, and bamboo is used for innumerable implements.

Common reed is important for thatching. Reeds are used in water treatment systems, in wetland conservation and land reclamation in Afro-Eurasia.

The front of a building normally comprises grasses as the primary plant, used in lawns, which themselves derive from grazed grasslands. They also provide an important means of erosion control (e.g., along roadsides), especially on sloping land. Grass lawns are an important covering of playing surfaces in many sports, including football (soccer), American football, tennis, golf, cricket, softball, and baseball. In some sports facilities, including indoor domes and other places where maintenance of a grass field would be difficult, grass may be replaced with artificial turf, a synthetic grass-like substitute.

In cricket, the pitch is the strip of carefully mowed and rolled grass where the bowler bowls. In the days leading up to the match, it is repeatedly mowed and rolled to produce a very hard, flat surface for the ball to bounce off.

On the golf courses, the grass is kept in three distinct conditions: that of the rough, the fairway, and the putting green. Grass on the fairway is mown short and even, allowing the player to strike the ball cleanly. Playing from the rough is a disadvantage because the long grass may affect the flight of the ball. Grass on the putting green is the shortest and most even, ideally allowing the ball to roll smoothly over the surface. An entire industry revolves around the development and marketing of grass varieties for golf courses.