food preservation
Thursday Lecture – Cereal Grains
Reading: Textbook, Chapter 5
The topic of class for this week will be members of the grass family, which as cereal crops provide more than half of all calories that humans consume. Members of the family are used in many other ways by people, including as forage grasses for livestock.
1
What is a Cereal?
Ceres – Roman goddess of agriculture (in
Greek, Demeter).
Myth: mother of Persephone, who was kidnapped by Hades; Ceres went on strike to demand return of daughter; Persephone had eaten a pomegranate seed forced to divide time – explanation for temperate seasons
Grain = seeds/seedlike fruits of plants, particularly grasses
Cereal = edible grains produced by annual grasses
Cereal Grain – redundant?
See Fig. 5.1, p. 111
The word cereal is derived from the name of the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres, and refers to the edible grains produced by annual grasses. A grain is a 1-seeded fruit in which the fruit and seed wall are fused together. (The term grain is also used to refer to similar 1-seeded fruits of a few other food plants, such as grain amaranths and buckwheat, but these are not grasses.)
2
Poaceae (Gramineae) – Grass
Family
Agrostology – Study of Grasses
Gramineae – traditional name for family
Ranks: 4th (number of species) 1st (Number of individuals)
1st – Economic Importance
The grass family is very large in terms of numbers of species, although not the largest. It is, however, clearly the most important family for people both ecologically and economically, and its members are found throughout the land surfaces of the globe.
3
Grass Plant –
Overall Structure
See Fig. 5.2, p. 112
Grass plants have a structure that is highly distinctive and different from most other plants – there are terms that refer to specific structures in grasses. The vegetative characteristics contribute to the usefulness of grasses.
4
Grass Infloresence Structure
See Fig. 5.2, p.
Reading: Textbook, Chapter 5
The topic of class for this week will be members of the grass family, which as cereal crops provide more than half of all calories that humans consume. Members of the family are used in many other ways by people, including as forage grasses for livestock.
1
What is a Cereal?
Ceres – Roman goddess of agriculture (in
Greek, Demeter).
Myth: mother of Persephone, who was kidnapped by Hades; Ceres went on strike to demand return of daughter; Persephone had eaten a pomegranate seed forced to divide time – explanation for temperate seasons
Grain = seeds/seedlike fruits of plants, particularly grasses
Cereal = edible grains produced by annual grasses
Cereal Grain – redundant?
See Fig. 5.1, p. 111
The word cereal is derived from the name of the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres, and refers to the edible grains produced by annual grasses. A grain is a 1-seeded fruit in which the fruit and seed wall are fused together. (The term grain is also used to refer to similar 1-seeded fruits of a few other food plants, such as grain amaranths and buckwheat, but these are not grasses.)
2
Poaceae (Gramineae) – Grass
Family
Agrostology – Study of Grasses
Gramineae – traditional name for family
Ranks: 4th (number of species) 1st (Number of individuals)
1st – Economic Importance
The grass family is very large in terms of numbers of species, although not the largest. It is, however, clearly the most important family for people both ecologically and economically, and its members are found throughout the land surfaces of the globe.
3
Grass Plant –
Overall Structure
See Fig. 5.2, p. 112
Grass plants have a structure that is highly distinctive and different from most other plants – there are terms that refer to specific structures in grasses. The vegetative characteristics contribute to the usefulness of grasses.
4
Grass Infloresence Structure
See Fig. 5.2, p.