The grasses are also significant as grazing crops and some larger ornamentals. As building materials and a source for matting, the bamboos are highly valued in Asia. The distinctive floral anatomy results in a specialized terminology. Fossil pollen from the upper Cretaceous and fossil pollen and grains from the Paleocene and Eocene. Perianth may be lacking.
Inflorescence is of spikelets which are then arranged into panicles, racemes or spikes.
The bractlets sometimes produce a stiff bristle termed an awn. If a floret has a perianth, it is modfied as two fleshy lodicules. Seeds are fused to teh pericarp and with endosperm present. Placentation is basal. Habit is as herbs or rarely woody shrubs or trees.