MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 747 



Florida and southern California but do not flower there. 

 Greek kumbe, boat, 

 and pogon, beard, allud- 

 ing to the boat-shaped 

 spathes. 



Name from 



Vetiveria zizanioides 



(L.) Nash. Vetiver. 

 (Fig. 1666.) Robust 

 densely tufted peren- 

 nial with simple culms 

 and large erect panicles, 

 the slender whorled 

 branches ascending, 

 naked at the base, the 

 awnless spikelets muri- 

 cate. Also called khus- 

 khus and khas-khas. 

 Qi — Native of the 

 Old World, frequently 

 cultivated in tropical 

 America for hedges and ^, 

 for the aromatic roots, 

 these being used for 

 making screens and 

 mats which are fragrant 

 when wet. Vetiver oil 

 is much used in perfum- 

 ery. Escaped from cul- 

 tivation in Louisiana. 

 Name from vettiver, the 

 native Tamil name. 



146. HYPARRHENIA 

 Anderss. 



Spikelets in pairs as 

 in Andropogon, but 

 spikelets of the lower 

 pairs alike, sterile, 

 and awnless ; fertile 

 spikelets 1 to few in 

 each raceme, terete or 

 flattened on the back 

 (keeled toward the sum- 

 mit in Hyparrhenia 

 rufa), the base usually 

 elongate into a sharp 

 callus, the fertile lemma 

 with a strong genicu- 

 late awn; Sterile Spike- FlGURE n666.— Vettrmazizamoides, XJ4 (Hitchcock 9435, Jamaica.) 



lets awnless; racemes 



in pairs, on slender peduncles, and subtended by a spathe. lall per- 



