Graminae & Palmae family characteristics and example
Graminae & Palmae family characteristics and example
Graminae
Characteristics
| Plants | usually herbs |
| Stem | cylindrical, fistular (solid at the node, hollow at the internode) |
| Leaves | simple with distinct sheath enclosing the internode, distichous (half alternate), ligulate |
| Inflorescence | spikelet (each spikelet contains special bracts called glumes; the first and the second glumes are empty and the third one is flowering, called lemma), opposite to lemma there is a bracteole called Palea |
| Flower | bisexual, actinomorphic, hypogynous |
| Androecium | stamen-6 in 2 whorls (3+3), anthers versatile |
| Gynoecium | carpel-1, ovary superior, one chambered with one campylotropous ovule in each chamber, stigma-2, feathery |
| Fruit | caryopsis |
Plants list (Economically Important Plants)
| Cereals | Oryza sativa Triticum aestivum Zea mays Avena sativa Hordeum vulgare |
| Parts used | endosperm with the embryo of the grain |
| Uses | staple cereals |
| Plants | Saccharum officinarum |
| Parts | sweet secretion of stem |
| Uses | sugar |
| Plants | Bambusa vulgaris Dendrocalamus sp. |
| Parts | stem |
| Uses | building material, paper industries |
| Plants | Cymbopogon citratus Cymbopogon nardus |
| Parts | leaves |
| Uses | oil |
| Plant | Secale cereale |
| Part | inflorescence |
| Uses | cultivation for the production of Ergot of rai, the extract ergotine is used as a remedy for uterine hemorrhage after childbirth |
Umbelliferae & Solanaceae family characteristics & plants list
Graminae & Palmae family characteristics and example
Palmae (Arecaceae)
Family characteristics
| Plants | trees or shrubs, rarely climber |
| Stem | unbranched, erect, cylindrical, covered with leaf scars or persistent leaf stalks; with crown of foliage leaves. |
| Leaves | Compound pinnately sected or palmately sected plicate in the bud. |
| Inflorescence | simple or compound spadix, subtended by one or more large spathe. |
| Flower | small, unisexual, regular, hypogynous Perianth (of both male and female)- 6 in number in 2 whorls (3+3), persistent, sepaloid. |
| Fruit | berry or fibrous drupe |
Example (Plants list)
| Plant | Cocos nucifera |
| Parts & Uses | 1. Dried endosperm – coconut oil 2. Water (liquid endosperm) – drinking purpose |
| Plants | Borassus flabellifer Phoenix sylvestris |
| Parts | sugary juice from young shoot tips called ‘Todday’. |
| Uses | this todday is used for making sugar and local alcoholic drink |
| Plants | Elaeis guineensis |
| Parts | fleshy mesocarp of the fruit |
| Uses | palm oil (used in making soap and edible oil) |
| Plant | Metroxylon sagu |
| Parts | starch from the pith of the stem |
| Uses | food |
| Plant | Calamus rotang (climber) |
| Parts | stem |
| Uses | used as canes, making sticks, sits of chairs, basket, etc. |
