122 



GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 



78. H. odorata. 

 Closed spikelet ; 

 same opened and 

 with glumes sep- 

 arated X2. 



Fragrant perennials, with flat leaves and terminal panicles. (Name from Jep6s, 

 sacred, and X^T?, grass ; these sweet-scented grasses being strewn before church- 

 doors on saints' days in the North of Europe.) SAVASTANA Schrank. 



1. H. odorata (L.) \Vahlenb. (VANILLA or SENECA GRASS.) Culms 3-6 dm. 

 high, from a creeping rootstock ; leaves short, lanceolate, scab- 

 rous or smoothish ; those of the sterile shoots long and scabrous ; 

 panicle pyramidal, 4-12 cm. long, usually compact but some- 

 times loose, the slender branches drooping ; spikelets 5 mm. 

 long, brownish ; staminate lemmas hispid-ciliate on the margins 

 and below the apex on the keel, awnless ; fertile lemma hairy 

 at the apex. (H. borealis R. & S.) Moist meadows, chiefly 

 north w., near the coast, and along the Great Lakes. May-July. 

 (Eurasia.) FIG. 78. The loose-panicled form, Savastana 

 Nashii Bicknell, is not specifically distinct. 



2. H. alpina (Sw.) R. & S. Culms 1-4 dm. high, tufted ; 

 upper sheaths inflated ; blades very small, the lowest and those 

 of the sterile shoots long and linear, smooth; panicle con- 

 tracted, 2-5 cm. long ; spikelets 7-8 mm. long, olivaceous ; 

 staminate lemmas ciliate on the margins, the first short-owned 

 below the apex, the second with a longer (5-8 mm.) bent awn 



from below the middle ; fertile lemma mucronate. Alpine regions, N. E., N. Y., 



and northw. July, Aug. (Eu.) 



82. MILIUM [Toura.] L. MILLET GRASS 



Spikelets 1-flowered, rhachilla articulated below the floret ; 

 glumes equal ; lemma slightly shorter, shining, indurated, the 

 margins inrolled over a similar palea; grain inclosed within the 

 lemma and palea. free. Our species perennial with flat leaves 

 and open panicles. (The ancient Latin name of the millet 

 which, however, belongs to a different genus of uncertain 

 meaning.) 



1. M. effusum L. Smooth ; culms rather slender, simple, 

 1-1.5 m. high ; leaves 1-3 dm. long, 8-15 mm. wide ; panicle 

 1-2 dm. long, the slender branches in remote pairs or fascicles, 

 widely spreading or drooping, spikelet-bearing from about the 

 middle; spikelets 3-3.5 mm. long; glumes minutely scabrous. 



Cold damp woods and mountain meadows, N. S. to 111., 

 and northw. The fruit (mature floret) resembles that of 

 Panicum. June Aug. (Eu.) FIG. 79. 



28. ORYZ6PSIS Michx. MOUNTAIN RICE 



Spikelets 1-flowered, in narrow few-flowered panicles ; glumes rather broad, 

 obtuse or abruptly acute ; floret with a short obtuse callus ; lemma (not over 

 1 cm. long) convolute, somewhat indurated, including the rather large palea and 

 perfect flower, terminating in a deciduous simple slender awn ; grain oblong- 

 ellipsoid, tightly included in the indurated lemma. Tufted perennials. (Namr 

 composed of dpi/fa, rice, and tyts, appearance, from a fancied resemblance to 

 that grain.) 



* Spikelets, excluding awn, 3-4 mm. long. 



1. 0. pungens (Torr.) Hitchc. Culms densely tufted, 2-5 dm. high, erect, 

 slender, simple ; sheaths usually crowded at the base, smooth or slightly scabrous ; 

 blades involute-filiform, the basal ones sometimes as long as the culm, usually 

 half its length, those of the culm short ; panicle 3-45 cm. long, branches erect or 

 ascending ; glumes suhequal, obscurely 6-nerved ; lemma usually as long as 

 the glumes, appressed-pubescent ; awn 1-2 (rarely 5) mm. long, sometimes 

 wanting ; palea as long as the lemma. (O. canadensis Man. ed. 6 ; O. juncea 

 BSP.) Dry rocky or sandy soil, Lab. to N. Y., and westw. 



79. M. effusum. 

 Part of panicle x %. 

 Closed and open 

 spikelete x 8. 



