Monocotyledons
Small tree or shrubs
Stem monopodial
Leaves pinnately or palmately divided
Flowers in one or more sheathing spathes
Flowers in the axile of one or a number
of imbricating bracts or glumes on a slender axis of a spikelet
Stem solid, unbranched, triquetrous
Leaves in basal tufts, legules absent
Florets borne axillaryl
Placenta free central
Perennial grasses
Culm slender
Stems usually hollow,
branched
Leaves simple
Leaves not in basal
tufts, legules absent
Flowers in spike-let
with imbricate bracts
Florets borne terminal
Placenta parietal
Leaves without apical tendril
Endosperm fleshy
Leaves linear, ensiform
Inflorescence umbellate
Ovary inferior, trilocular with many ovules
arranged in two series on the axile placentae
Seeds and ovules none
Stigma none
Leaves bearing sporangia
