grasses: culms with pith
 

Hallo!

Most culms of grasses are hollow. But in Allaby's Dictionary of Botany
is written some grasses had culms filled with pith.

Could anyone give examples? Wich species of Gramineae have culms
filled with pith?

Thanks in advance!
Dirk

"Dirk Bindmann" wrote in
message ...

Hallo!

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.

But in Allaby's Dictionary of Botany
is written some grasses had culms filled with pith.

A solid true pith that is without vascular bundles? Many grasses do
have solid culms, but IIRC at least some of them like maize tend to
have scattered vascular bundles throughout the stem center, and thus
not a true pith.

Could anyone give examples? Wich species of Gramineae have culms
filled with pith?

Google searching for "culms solid" and for "solid culms" and for
[culms pith poaceae hollow] or [culms pith gramineae hollow]
seem to find some likely links.

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.

cheers

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.