The Book of Grasses 



equal; flowering scales roughish, 2-toothed, scale of lower flower 

 awnless (or rarely bearing a rudimentary awn), scale of upper flower 

 bearing from between its teeth an awn about 3" long. Rachilla 

 prolonged. Stamens 3. 



Low grounds. May to July. 



Massachusetts to Illinois, south to Florida and Louisiana. 



Meadow Sphenopholis. Sphenopholis pdllens (Spreng.) 

 Scribn. 



Perennial, tufted. 



Stem 1-3 ft. tall, slender, erect. Ligule i" long or less. Leaves 

 2'-Y long, I "-3" wide, rough, flat, pale green. 



Panicle 3'-8' long, narrow, pale green. Spikelets 2-3-flowered, nearly 

 2" long. Outer scales unequal, ist scale acute, very narrow, about 

 -} the width of the 2nd scale, which is obtuse or abruptly acute; flower- 

 ing scales acute. Stamens 3. 



Damp woods and meadows. May to July. 



Maine to Wisconsin, south to North Carolina and Texas. 



WAVY HAIR-GRASS AND TUFTED HAIR-GRASS 



By the dry paths of early summer delicate panicles of Wavy 

 Hair-grass rise in silvery pink and green above thread-like leaves. 

 The flowering-heads of this grass are widely open, and as the small 

 spikelets are borne only at the extremities of the wavy branches 

 the plant seems but a transient spirit of the wayside that must be 

 begged to tarry lest it leave ere 



"the hasting day 

 Has run 

 But to the even-song." 



The silvery scales are exquisitely tinted in pink and rose for 

 the short time that the flowers are open, but as the flowers fade 

 the scales lose their colour and persist, shining and translucent, 

 long after the seeds have ripened and the stems have died. This 

 grass grows in the shade of wooded pastures as well as in the sun- 

 light, where on dry hillsides dark green tufts of the involute root- 

 leaves are frequently seen. Wavy Hair-grass is found at higher 

 altitudes than are many of the common grasses, and in spring it 

 is the most slender species in blossom until the misty panicles of 

 Fly-away Grass open, wraith-like in their beauty. 



Tufted Hair-grass (Deschdmpsia caespitdsa) prefers the moister 

 soil of lake shores and river banks, where the tall stems bear widely 



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