Garden tip: Grasses are flowering plants

Grasses are flowering plants, too. Where are the petals, the sepals and the reproductive parts? If you want to study grasses, you need a whole new vocabulary.

I have learned the names of a few common grasses: wild oats, purple needlegrass and Italian ryegrass. I mostly use the plant’s structure or branching patterns. For any further plant identification, you need a hand lens, a good key, a knowledge of the vocabulary and patience.

Grass flowers grow in spikelets composed of florets. The florets contain the reproductive parts: the stamens and pistil. The floret is composed of bracts, the names of which are glume, lemma and palea. You can discover this unique type of flower with a hand lens.

Begin by looking at native grasses in your area, and consider adding some of these graceful plants to your garden.

— Katie Martin, UC Marin Master Gardeners