Poaceae is a large monocotyledonous plant family encompassing the true grasses, characterized by herbaceous, often culm-forming stems with hollow internodes, leaves composed of sheaths, ligules, and linear blades, and a distinctive inflorescence of spikelets bearing reduced, wind-pollinated florets. Flowers are typically subtended by glumes and lemmas, with lodicules facilitating anthesis, and produce single-seeded dry fruits (caryopses) in which the seed coat is fused to the pericarp. Poaceae exhibits C3, C4, and intermediate photosynthetic pathways, occupies diverse terrestrial habitats worldwide, and plays central roles in primary productivity, biogeochemical cycling, and the evolution of grass-dominated ecosystems.
Lab-grown meat, gene editing and extreme fire: researchers' predictions for life in the 2100s
Other
Jul 14, 2026
0
10
Plants do not wait hours to respond to intense sunlight—they react within minutes. Researchers at Bielefeld University and the Australian National University have discovered a new signaling pathway that enables plants to ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jul 14, 2026
0
8
Water-saving irrigation practices, including intermittent irrigation, are essential for sustainable rice cultivation amid growing freshwater shortages. However, periodic drainage creates aerobic soil conditions that drastically ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jul 13, 2026
0
7
If we want to dismiss something as irrelevant, we'd say that it's "as boring as watching the grass grow." And yet grasses—including corn, wheat and rice—make up most of the plant-based calories humans eat, as well as most ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 11, 2026
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47
Mississippi State scientists are building on two decades of irrigation research to identify production practices that help growers save water while improving crop yields.
Agriculture
Jul 10, 2026
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9
Farmers are getting more tools in their toolbox, thanks to new research from the University of Missouri that shows how they can tweak planting practices to make the most of every acre.
Biotechnology
Jul 8, 2026
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23
Across North America, in places such as Illinois, Iowa and Texas, farmers are busy growing the crops the world depends on for food, fuel and fiber.
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 8, 2026
1
97
Maize (corn) is a major dietary staple in Maya communities past and present because of its reliability, potential for surplus, and suitability as both food and fodder. It became so important to ancient Mesoamerican communities ...
Ecology
Jul 8, 2026
0
15
Research has shed intriguing new light on the genetics underlying the diverse plant organ shapes seen in agriculture and nature. Despite more than a century of scientific investigation into the role of inner and outer tissues, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 8, 2026
0
7
Summer came too early to Europe's most important rice-growing region, and weeds are taking over Sharon Angoli's parched paddies in Italy's Pavia province.
Agriculture
Jul 4, 2026
0
23
