BOTANY OF GRASSES AND

LEGUMES
- Flowering plants are in two groups, monocotyledons and dicotyledons
- Both are in the kingdom Plantae
- The principal forages are largely in the two botanical families, the grasses and the
legumes.
- Grasses and grass – like plants (sedges, rushes) are monocotyledons
- True grasses are in the family Poaceae while sedges, Cyperaceae, and rushes, Juncaceae
- Legumes are of the family leguminoseae (Fabaceae)
- Both thrive at a temperature range of 22 – 30 °C
The Grasses

• These are grouped into 600 genera with nearly 10,000 species.
• These genera are further grouped into approximately 30 tribes.
• In Nigeria, there are about 25 tribes of grasses
Description

- Grasses are of the family Gramineae/ Poaceae, monocotyledonous plants that have narrow, bladelike leaves, hollow culms (stems), with flowers that are usually
wind pollinated and extensively branching fibrous root systems
- Poaceae is one of the largest plant families
- Are distributed throughout the world, but not all grasses are found everywhere
- There are differences among tropical, sub – tropical and temperate grasses.
- There are some temperate grasses growing in the tropics
- Are mostly monocotyledonous plants, i.e. they have one cotyledon or embryonic leaf in their seeds
- Grasses include all the cereals
- They include food for man and animals (forages, fodders), and almost all basal concentrates are based on cereals
- Also used as ground covers (as turfs for lawns or cover plants to reduce erosions)
- They provide a preservable source of carbohydrates, some proteins and other nutrients
- Almost all are herbaceous (non – woody) plants
- Scattered vascular bundles
- Most grasses grow low to the ground although with a few exceptions like sugar cane, millet, maize and bamboo
- In size, grasses range from a few centimeters to 20m or more in height.
- Bamboo attains the greatest size
- Are either annuals or perennials (An annual plant completes its life cycle in one growing season and dies. A perennial life for more than two seasons. When a
plant completes its life cycle in two growing seasons, it is a biennial. However, these terms are misleading in the tropics where wet or dry seasons influence
growth patterns. In the presence of an adequate amount of soil moisture, a so called annual of the temperate zone may persist over several seasons).
- The basic design of a grass is that it consists of roots which give rise to cylindrical, jointed stems, leaf blades borne on sheaths which arise at the node and
encircle the stem and inflorescences consisting of several flowers from which the seeds develop
•
Morphology

• The organs of grasses undergo many modifications from the usual

structures.
• They have certain common characteristics
Aerial parts

• The leaves
• The stems
• Inflorescence
• Fruit
1. Leaves

- Grasses have narrow leaves which grow from the base

- Consists of the sheath, the ligule and the leaf blade, which is usually flat and linear
- The lower part of the leaf is called the sheath while the upper part, the blade
- Leaves are borne on the stem (culm), alternately in two rows, one at each node
- The sheath surrounds the stem above the node
- In most grasses, the edges of the sheath are free and overlap, but sometimes they are united, i.e., closed.
- All sheaths have chlorophyll and contribute to the production of photosynthates
- The blades are parallel veined and typically flat, narrow and sessile
- The leaf midrib is usually prominent but the lateral veins are often quite faint
- In some grasses, the leaves are smooth to touch, in others, rough, because of minute, spiny hairs, e.g., Rottboellia, Imperata and
some Guinea grass spp
- The collar (upper region) marks the junction of the outer surface of the sheath and leaf blade and it is usually discoloured
- The ligule, which is a little collar, is an appendage found at the junction of the leaf blade and the sheath, usually closely pressed to
the culm (stem of a grass)
- The ligule may be a membrane, a fringe of hair or a hardened ring
- The ligule varies in size, shape and texture.
- Its structure is consistent within a species and usually a reliable characteristic for identification
- Some grasses have ear – like appendages (auricles) projecting from the leaf edges at the junction of the sheath and blade
2. Stems

- The stems of a grass are also called the haulms/culms

- Culms, generally, are non – woody
- Stems are hollow
- The stems are jointed, i.e., made up of nodes separated by internodes
- The nodes are solid, sometimes enlarged and serve to strengthen the stem
- Internodes may be hollow (e.g. Brachiaria spp), filled with a white pith (Zea mays, Hyperrhenia spp) or solid
(Axonopus spp)
- In a few grasses, the basal internode is thickened and enlarged (e.g., Cenchrus ciliaris) and serves as a storage
organ
- In addition to the vertical flowering stems, many grasses have horizontal underground stems, rhizomes, e.g.,
Imperata cylindrica,
- Some have creeping stems above the ground (stolons), e.g., Cynodon, Digitaria
- Stoloniferous grasses include
- Rhizomes, which have their nodes and internodes covered with scale -like leaves and sheaths
- Stolons, which develop roots and shoots at the nodes
- Stolons can be confused with procumbent stems that also root at the nodes
3. Reproductive organs

- The floral organs are modified shoots, containing the stamens and pistils
Inflorescence:
- The unit of the grass inflorescence/flower is the spikelet
- The flowers are inconspicuous
- The spikelets usually are in clusters, which constitute the inflorescence
- There are several types of spikelets and these include
- i) The raceme, which is the simplest, e.g., in Digitaria, Brachiaria, Paspalum, etc.
- ii) Spikes: in Chloris, Cynodon, etc.
- iii) Panicle, e.g., Panicum maximum, Cenchrus ciliaris, etc
- The inflorescence may be terminal, arising at the end of the main stem, or axillary, i.e., the flower stalk
developing from the axil of the leaf and stem
- All grasses are wind pollinated which may lead to either cross- or self – pollination
- Single grass flower is called floret, which is sheathed inside two glumes (bracts), lacking petals
 4. The fruit

- The fruit is one seeded

- The fruit (seed) of most grasses is a caryopsis or kernel, which is sometimes called a grain
- The single seed (mature ovule), i.e., the kernel, is united to the pericarp (ripened ovary wall)
- The pericarp of some grass species adheres to the seed and has the appearance of the seed coat.
- The seed coat, however, lies below the pericarp and it is an ovular structure while the pericarp is the
modified ovary wall
- Sometimes, the pericarp is not attached to the seed, e.g., species of Sporobolus and Eragrostis
- The pericarp protects the seed against moisture loss, attacks of microorganisms, and injuries from
fungicides and insecticides
- The embryo (germ cell) lies on the side of the caryopsis next to the lemma, and can be seen as an oval
depression
- The embryo consists of a plumule, radicle and scutellum
- The part of the kernel not occupied by the embryo is the endosperm in which food is stored.
- Following germination, the plumule develops to form the shoot, the radicle, the root and the scutellum
secrets from its outer layer of cells certain enzymes that dissolve the stored food in the endosperm
Roots

- Grasses reproduce not only by the seeding process, but also vegetatively through the stems that emanate
from the crown
- Fibrous root systems
- A fibrous root system consists of one or several primary roots stemming directly from the seed (seminal
roots) and also roots that developed adventitiously from the lower stem nodes (adventitious roots/crown
roots)
- Both these roots produce the lateral roots
- The primary grass root may persist for only a short time after germination, which is replaced by the
secondary root which sometimes form at nodes above the ground (prop roots) or at the nodes of creeping
stems (stolons)
Growth habit of grasses

• Tufted (bunch - type): it is a cluster of vegetative shoots/culms arising

from a single crown, e.g. P. maximum
• The culms of a tufted grass may grow erect, in a decumbent fashion
(curving upward from a horizontal base), semi – erect or semi –
decumbent
• The stems may also lie flat on the ground for some length, then turn
upward, i.e., procumbent/prostrate (Axonopus compresus)
• The basal part of the tufted grasses is referred to as the crown
• As plant becomes older, and are repeatedly grazed or cut, the older stems
die and new tillers develop, causing the crown diameter to enlarge
Legumes
Description

- The family name, leguminoseae (Fabaceae), is derived from the term legume, which is the name of the
type of fruit (pod) characteristic of plants of this family
- A legume is a monocarpellary fruit that contains only a single row of seeds and dehisces along both sutures
or ribs
- There are nearly 500 genera and some 11,000 species of legumes
- Legumes are dicotyledons and may be annuals, biennials or perennials
- As most legume plant grows, the symbiotic bacteria responsible for the formation of the nodules on the
roots use the Nitrogen in the air and multiply in the nodules
- The Nitrogen in turn becomes available to the legume plant and aids in its nourishment and growth
- The three traditionally recognized sub – families: Papilionoideae (mainly edible/.food legume crops),
Caesalpinioideae and Mimosoideae, do not adequately represent relationships within the family
- Therefore, the organization of the family into three subfamilies and 42 tribes is said to be outdated and
evolutionary misleading
- However, each subfamily is identified by its flowers
- The legume family is divided into three sub – families:
Morphology
Aerial parts

• The leaves
• The stems
• Inflorescence
• Fruit
a) Leaves

• Leaves are arranged alternatively

• They have characteristically, large stipules
• Leaves are made up of common leaf stalk (petiole), with three or
more leaflets, each with its own stalk, petiolule
• At the base of the main leaf stalk is a pair of leaf-like outgrowths
called stipules
• The stipules vary in size and are useful in the identification of species
• The leaflets and stipules may be smooth or possess hairs
• The leaflet veins form a netted pattern
b) Stems

• They vary greatly in different species in length, size, amount of

branching and woodiness
• Stems have nodes and internodes
c) Inflorescence

• Flowers usually are arranged either in racemes, in heads, etc.

• The flowers of the commoner naturally cross – pollinated species of
legumes have corollas characteristically papilionaceous, or butterfly – like
• These irregular flowers consist of five petals – a stander, two wings and a
keel consisting of two petals that are more or less united
• The keel encloses the stigma and the stamens
• Some legumes, e.g., many of beans and peas, are ordinarily autogamous
(self - pollinating) while others are self – sterile, i.e., the stigma must be
fertilized with pollen from another plant of the same species or no seed
will be formed
d) Fruit

• It is a pod containing one to several seeds

• The seeds usually are without an endosperm at maturity
• In legume seed, the reserve food is stored in the two cotyledons
Fruit
• The hilium is the scar where the seed has been detached from the
pod
• Each seed is enclosed in the testa or seed coat
• The plumule and radicle, which are located near one end and
between the edges of the cotyledons, give rise to the shoot and the
root respectively
 Roots

• Most legumes, especially the herbaceous ones, have tap roots, i.e.,
primary roots and their branches (secondary roots)
• The roots of many leguminous plants have associated with them, the
Nitrogen – fixing bacteria that replenish the nitrate supply in the soil
 Growth habitat: (apart from trees)
• Bush type: a central stalk with side branches appearing along the main stem and
with axillary branches developing, e.g., Desmodium tortuosum
• Bunch – type: a single crown from which several stems and new tillers arise,
making it difficult to identify a main stem, e.g., Stylosanthes guianensis,
Medicago sativa, etc
• Creeping and scrambling: the stems trail over the ground surface, e.g.,
Calopogonium mucunoides, some Vigna spp, etc, with many of such plants
climbing on to and grow over upright objects, e.g., Centrosema pubescens,
Pueraria,
• Rosette: a vegetative form of some perennial which developed after flowering or
with the onset of cool weather, e.g., Medicago sativa, Trifolium pratense, etc., at
the higher elevations of the tropics
ASSIGNMENT
• Write on the characteristics of
i) Shrubs
ii) Trees