437 



attenuate at the end, involute when dry, slightly hairy above. Spikes 2Q~ 40, 

 on short flat peduncles, each containing 6 8 spikelets. Anthers bright red. 



Racemed Atheropogon. 



30. GYMNOPOGON. Beauv. Gymnopogon. 



(From the Greek yv/^oj, naked, and Trwywi/, a beard ; in allusion to the awn 

 of the neutral flower.) 



Glume 2-valved, carinate, nearly equal. Paleae nearly equal ; 

 the lower one with a long and straight bristle a little below the 

 tip. Neutral rudiment pedicellate, of one minute 1 valve pro- 

 duced into an awn. Flowers in a compound spike or panicle. 



G. racemosus Beauv.: culm ascending; leaves distichous, ovate-lance- 

 olate, nerved, short ; spikes numerous, arranged in a somewhat whorled pan- 

 icle; flowers appressed. Andropogon ambiguus Mich. Anthopogon lep- 

 turoides Nutt. 



Sandy fields. N. J. to Geor. Aug. %. Culm about 2 feet high, decum- 

 bent at base. Leaves 2 inches or less in length, very acute. Panicle large, 

 spreading. Racemed Gymnopogon. 



VIII. AVENE^E. Spikelets % many-flowered; terminal flower com- 

 monly imperfect. Glumes and palea 2, membranaceously herbaceous ; 

 lower palea usually with a twisted awn on the back. 



31. HIEROCHLOA. Gmel Holy Grass. 



(From the Greek lews, sacred, and x\oa, a grass ; because in some parts of 

 Prussia it is used on festival days.) 



Spikelets 3-flowered, pedicellate. Lateral flowers staminate, 

 triandrous and mostly awned ; terminal or central one perfect, 

 diandrous, awnless. Flowers in a contracted panicle. 



1. H. borealis JR. <$ S. : panicle somewhat one-sided, a little spreading; 

 peduncles smooth; flowers awnless; lower palea ciliate on the margin. 

 IJolcus odoratus Linn. 



Wet meadows. Subarct. Amer. to Virg. W. to Mich. May. 1+. Root 

 creeping. Culm 18 inches high, erect. Leaves linear-acuminate, smooth and 

 shining. Panicle few-flowered, pyramidal, brown and purple. Smell resem- 

 pling that of Anthoxanihum odoratum, and like that grass used to scent clothes 

 and apartments. Northern Holy-grass. Vanilla- grass. 



2. H. alpina R. <$ S.: panicle ovate, contracted; spikelets compressed, 

 longer than the branches ; glumes lanceolate, almost nerveless ; lateral 

 flowers triandrous, obtuse, awned on the back. Holcus alpinus Wahl. 



High mountains. Essex County, N. Y. White Mountains, N. H. Arct. 

 Amer. ; rare. June. %.. Culm 6 12 inches high, erect. Leaves 2 3 lines 

 wide. Panicle with the branches in pairs. Spikelets larger than in the preced- 

 ing, shining and purplish-brown. Alpine Holy-grass. 



32. ANTHOXANTHUM. Linn. Vernal Grass. 



(From the Greek avdos, a. flower > and ^avOos, yellow ; in allusion to the color of 

 its spikes.) 



Spikelets 3-flowered ; the two lower flowers neutral and each 



