Gramineae

WordNet 3.6
- n Gramineae the grasses: chiefly herbaceous but some woody plants including cereals; bamboo; reeds; sugar cane
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

- gramineae In botany, the largest order among endogenous plants except the orchids, and the most important in the entire vegetable kingdom, everywhere distributed throughout the globe, and comprising 300 genera and over 3,000 species. The stems are usually terete and hollow between the nodes, and the linear leaves are sheathing at the base and two-ranked. The flowers are glumaceous and for the most part bisexual, in spikelets which are variously arranged in spikes or panicles, each flower having a one-celled and one-ovuled ovary, which at maturity becomes the peculiar fruit known as a caryopsis. The species are generally herbaceous, some of the bamboos only becoming arborescent. Besides the grasses which supply food for nearly all graminivorous animals, both wild and domesticated, this order includes all the various cereals upon which man largely depends, as wheat. rye, barley, maize, rice, oats, spelt, guinea-corn, and millet, as well as the sugar-cane, sorghum, and bamboo. Some species are fragrant and yield fragrant oils, and others furnish valuable material for paper. Also called Graminaceæ.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary

L. gramen, graminis, grass, folium, a leaf, vorāre, to eat greedily.

I am surprised at what you say about Compositae and Gramineae.

"More Letters of Charles Darwin Volume II" by Charles Darwin

Compositae, Cruciferae, and Gramineae form the bulk of the vegetation.

"Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and TheNeighbouring Countries" by William Griffith

The gramineae, or grasses, are especially characterized by the large quantities of sugar and silica they contain.

"Scientific American Supplement, No. 623, December 10, 1887" by Various

I felt no one had a right to plant ivy when I was selling something effective only on the family Gramineae.

"Greener Than You Think" by Ward Moore

Gramineae: (grasses), yielding a grain used as food and also for making malt, from which are prepared beer, porter, and whisky.

"The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 3" by Various

Sometimes, however, as in Gramineae, the stigma of a single carpel divides.

"Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 5" by Various

This character is absolute for the whole order, and effectually separates Gramineae from Cyperaceae.

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