HOW TO KNOW THE GRASSES 



14b. Second glume bearing a protruding bristle on the middle of the 

 keel; inflorescence a single curved spike. Fig. 260. 



TOOTHACHE GRASS Ctenium aromaticum (Walt.) Wood 



Perennial; tufted; plants 1 — 1.5 m. tall. 

 The bases of the plants are surrounded by 

 the coarse, fibrous remains of the old 

 sheaths. Toothache grass is a plant of 

 wet pine woods on the sandy coastal plain. 

 The fresh roots are said to have a spicy 

 smell. The plants furnish some forage for 

 cattle in the South. May — July. 



Figure 260 



15a. Fertile lemma with a single long awn or with 3 short awns, or 

 awnless 16 



1 5b. Fertile lemma bearing 3 long awns, at least twice as long as the 

 body of the lemma. Fig. 261. 



Tnchloris criniia (Lag.) Parodi 



Perennial; tufted; plants 40 — 100 cm. 

 tall; leaf blades 2 — 4 mm. wide. The 

 silvery panicle of spikes is vase-shaped, 

 5 — 15 cm. long, feathery because of the 

 numerous long awns. Individual spikes 

 are 5 — 10 cm. long. Spikelets disarticu- 

 lating above the glumes; second iloret 

 rudimentary, reduced to awns; lemmas 

 3-nerved, all of the nerves extending into 

 the awns, which are about 1 cm. long. 

 The plants are sometimes cultivated for 

 ornament. Fields and rocky open 

 groimd. Autumn. Formerly known as 

 Tnchloris mendocina or T. blanchardi- 

 ana. 



\^ 



& iife A 



Figure 261 



16a. Spikes borne in one to several whorls, with two to many spikes in 

 each whorl 18 



16b. Spikes borne singly at each joint of the rachis 17 



138 



