Illustrated Descriptions of the Grasses 



VELVET GRASS 



"I find myself 'mid pastures sweet. 

 Vernal, green, and ever gay." 



The eye is arrested in mid-June by 

 bits of colouring in the fresh meadows, 

 as if on the darker grasses a grayish- 

 pink fog rested, clinging in unevapo- 

 rated clouds where the Velvet Grass 

 blooms. By waysides and in meadows 

 the soft panicles open, white and gray- 

 green, pale pink and purple, charming 

 in colour, and surely more beautiful 

 than the Yorkshire fog from which the 

 English named the grass. 



Soft white hairs clothe leaves and 

 sheaths in a dense pubescence, and from 

 this alone the grass may be recognized 

 throughout the season, for although 

 the ripening stems change to shining 

 yellow the sheaths remain green and 

 retain their velvet-like softness until 

 fall. The plant is usually about two 

 feet high, though in the Southern States 

 it is often much taller. The long upper 

 sheath is inflated and until the flowers 

 open it encloses the soft panicle which, 

 though richly coloured where the sun- 

 light touches it, is sometimes pale 

 greenish white, even in bloom. Against 

 the green of early summer grasses the 

 flowers of Velvet Grass are very notice- 

 able, and until September a few plants 

 still bloom and may be found in many 

 locations from the borders of damp 

 thickets to sandy fields and shores. 



Doctor Muhlenberg, who did much 

 to bring before the world the agricultural resources of our 

 country, termed this grass "excellens pabulum," but cattle are 

 not fond of Velvet Grass and farmers do not find it worthy of 



133 



Velvet Grass 

 Holcus lanatus 



