There are perhaps 11,000 species of grasses, each one adapted to survive under particular environmental conditions. Some kind of grass can be found almost anywhere on land, and there are even grasses that live in water. About a quarter of the vegetation on our planet consists of grasses, some of them growing under very difficult conditions. Antarctica has only two flowering plants, and one of these is a grass. Grasses have developed unique characteristics to help them to survive.
Drought can be a problem in the grasslands.
During dry periods grasses can become dormant, leaving only dry stems and seed heads standing above the roots. When rain falls, new shoots come up from the roots again. Another adaptive characteristic of grasses is that they grow up from where the stems join the roots. Other plants grow from the tips of shoots, twigs, and branches, but grasses grows from the bottom up. This allows animals to eat grass without slowing its growth, and people to mow lawns without killing the grass.