Grasses are economically the most important group of plants; they provide major and minor cereals, fodders and raw material for paper, other fibres, medicines, drugs. etc. Also, Poaceae is the largest family of flowering plants in our country. It is represented by over 1200 species. Bor’s work on grasses of Indian sub-continent published in 1960 still remains the only consolidated account of the grasses of our country. Detailed and illustrated accounts of grasses of different states or smaller regions are urgently needed for better utilization and conservation of grasses. Scientists of Botanical Survey have already made several contributions in this direction. Similarly, critical revisionary accounts of various sub-families, tribes and genera are needed for better understanding of the taxonomy, nomenclature and distribution of taxa. The Botanical Survey of India has recently published the accounts of garnotieae, isachnneae and the genus dichanthium. Some other genera are under study. The only notable work on grasses of Madhya Pradesh so far was an enumeration by Tewari about 20 years ago. The present work is the first detailed and illustrated account of grasses of that state. The work is based primarily on the author’s own field work for the last five years supplemented with data from published literature and herbaria. To facilitate identification, dichotomous keys for genera and species have been provided. Botanical name, original citation and references to selected synonyms are given. These are followed by local names (where available), description, selected exsiceateae and economic uses.
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