Awn/bristle:  A slender, hair-like structure found on the spikelets of many grasses.

Blade:  The upper portion of the leaf, which is divided from the sheath by the collar and the ligule.

Collar:  The area on the outer side of the leaf where the blade and the sheath join.

Culm:  The stem of a grass.

Florets:  A small flower.

Glume:  One of a pair of dry membranous bracts at the base of the spikelet of grasses.

Inflorescence:  The part of a plant that consists of a cluster flower bearing stalks.

Internode:  The part of a plant stem between two nodes.

Lemma:  The outer bract that encloses the flower in a grass spikelet.

Ligule:  The structure that clasps the stem at the junction of blade and sheath.

Node:  The point on a plant stem from which the leaves or lateral branches grow.

Palea:  The inner bract that encloses the flower in a grass spikelet.

Panicle:  A branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes.

Plant Architecture: Structures of the plant, leaves, stems, roots, and the patterns they take.

Raceme:  A type of inflorescence that is unbranched and bears flowers having short stalks along the axis.

Shatter: When the seed head breaks apart, releasing seeds.

Sheath:  The tubular portion of the leaf, which wraps around or encloses the stem.

Spike:  An inflorescence consisting of a raceme of flowers growing directly from the stem.

Spikelet:  A flowering structure common to grasses, where a reduced flower is encased in several protective structures.

Tiller:  A shoot that arises from the base of the stem in grasses.