In article ,
"mel turner" writes:
| "Dirk Bindmann" wrote in
| message ...
|
| Most culms of grasses are hollow.
|
| That may be correct, but I'm really not sure. There are many grasses
| that don't have hollow culms. I couldn't say how the family breaks
| down in terms of numbers of species with and without hollow culms.
|
| Anyway, corn [Zea mays], sugarcane [Saccharum], and sorghum [Sorghum
| spp.] are familiar examples of solid-stemmed grasses. [Sorghum
| however is reported to sometimes show hollow spaces in the pith]
|
| Some bamboos are evidently also described as having solid culms,
| as are various different non-bamboo grasses.

And that's just the big ones. As any inveterate grass-chewer can
witness, some of the small ones are hollow and some solid. I am
exactly in your position as regards the first paragraph.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.