Blank Grass Diagram to Label – Printable Sheet With Key

All 13 parts on the diagram

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The whole plant 10

Blade The long, narrow part of a leaf, bending away from the stem.
Sheath The lower part of a leaf, wrapped around the stem.
Stem (culm) The upright flower stem, which carries the seed head. Also called a culm.
Node A solid joint on the stem. A leaf grows from each one.
Seed head The flowering part of the plant, made of many small spikelets.
Tiller A new shoot that grows from the crown beside the first.
Crown A very short stem at the soil line. New growth starts here.
Roots Thin, branching roots that anchor the plant and take up water.
Stolon A stem that creeps over the ground and roots at its nodes.
Rhizome A stem that runs under the soil and rises as new shoots.

Where blade meets sheath 3

Collar The band on the back of the leaf where blade meets sheath.
Ligule A thin flap, or a fringe of hairs, where blade meets sheath.
Auricles Small claw-like flaps at the blade's base. Not every grass has them.

How this list was compiled: Every name was checked on 2026-09-30 against sources read that day; a name is kept only when two of them use it. (1) Penn State Extension, The Cool-Season Turfgrasses: Basic Structures, Growth and Development, https://extension.psu.edu/the-cool-season-turfgrasses-basic-structures-growth-and-development (a mature, unmown grass plant is leaves, roots, stems and a seed head; a leaf is a blade, a sheath and the collar region with its collar, ligule and auricle, which not every grass has; roots fibrous, branching and very slender; three kinds of stem: the crown, the horizontal rhizomes and stolons, and the flower stem; tillers are shoots from the crown; the spikelet is the unit of the seed head; mown grass seldom shows flower stems or seed heads). (2) Oregon State University, Forage Information System, Grass structures, https://forages.oregonstate.edu/regrowth/how-does-grass-grow/grass-structures (culm, culm node, leaf blade, leaf sheath, collar, ligule, auricles as claw-like appendages, crown, tiller, stolon, rhizome, seed head; the collar region as the most useful place to tell grasses apart). (3) Wikipedia, text only: Poaceae, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poaceae (each leaf a lower sheath round the stem and a blade; the ligule, a membranous appendage or fringe of hairs at the junction of sheath and blade; culms; spikelets; the family includes cereals, bamboos and lawn grasses), Tiller (botany), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiller_(botany), and Auricle (botany), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auricle_(botany). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain curves; own work, nothing traced. A teaching plan, not one species. Licence: own work

How it works

A blank grass diagram to label, in two parts. Above, an unmown grass plant stands whole, seed head to roots, with ten parts to name. Below, the joint of one leaf is drawn large, with three more.

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The word list

Ten names go on the plant: seed head, stem (also called the culm), node, blade, sheath, tiller, crown, roots, stolon and rhizome. Three go on the leaf joint: ligule, collar and auricles.

Lines that are easy to mix up

On the upright stem the short band is the node, and the bare stretch under the seed head is the stem. Two lines end on leaves: the higher is a blade, and the lower marks the tiller, the smaller side shoot. The stolon lies along the soil line to the right; the rhizome dips under the soil to the left. At the joint, the upright flap is the ligule, the band across the foot of the blade is the collar, and the claws are the auricles.

The small ovals on the seed head are spikelets. They are drawn and take no line.
For coloring: rhizomes are usually white, and stolons usually have some green in them.

Questions and answers

Is a grass stem hollow?

Yes, between the joints. A grass stem, or culm, is hollow except at the nodes, where it is solid and a leaf is attached. On the sheet the node is the short band on the upright stem.

What kind of roots does grass have?

Fibrous roots: thin, branching and very slender. They anchor the plant and take up water and nutrients. On the sheet they hang below the crown, under the soil line.

Why does grass keep growing after it is cut?

A grass blade grows from its base, not from its tip, and the growing point of the plant sits low, at the crown. Mowing or grazing takes the tops of the leaves and does little harm to the plant.

Is grass a monocot?

Yes. The grasses are a large family of monocot flowering plants. The cereals, the bamboos and the grasses of lawns and pastures all belong to it.

What are the types of grass seed heads?

Three: the panicle, the spike and the raceme, told apart by how the spikelets are carried. In a panicle they sit on branches off the main stem, as on this sheet. In a spike they sit directly on the main stem.