GRAMIXIWE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



53. HIER6CHL.OA, Gmclin. HOLY-GRASS. 



Spikelets plainly 3-flowered, oi)en-panicle(l ; the flowers all with 2 palrse the 

 two lower (lateral) flowers staminate onlv, .'j-amlroiis, sessile, often awned on the 

 middle of the buck or near the tip; the uppermost (middle) one perfect, short- 

 pcdicellcd, scarcely as long as the others, 2-androus, awulrss. Glumes equalling 

 or exceeding the spikelet, scarious ; palea! ehartaeeous. Leaves linear or lan- 

 ceolate, flat. (Name composed of icpos, sacred, and p(Xoa, yrass ; these sweet- 

 scented Grasses being strewn before the church-doors on saints' days, in the North 

 of Europe.) 



1. II. borealis, Roem. & Schultes. (VANILLA or SENECA GRASS.) 



Panicle somewhat one-sided, pyramidal (2'-:V long); peduncles smooth; 

 staminatc flowers with the lower palea mueronate or bristle-pointed at or near 

 the tip ; rootstock creeping. U. (Iloleus odoratus, L.) Moist meadows, Mass. 

 to Wisconsin, and northward, chiefly near the coast and along the Lakes. May, 

 Culm l-2 high, with short lanceolate leaves. Spikelets chestnut-color; 

 the sterile flowers strongly hairy-fringed on the margins, and the fertile one at 

 the tip. (Eu.) 



2. II. alpilia. Roem. & Schultes. Panicle contracted (l'-2' long); one 

 of the staminatc flowers barely pointed or short-awned near the tip, the other 

 long-awncd from below the middle; lowest leaves very narrow. 1J. Alpine 

 mountain-tops, New England, New York, and northward. July. (Eu.) 



54. A W T II O X A W T II U ill , L. SWEET-SCKXTED VERNAL-GRASS. 



Spikelets spiked-panicled, 3-flowcrcd ; but the lateral flowers neutral, consist- 

 ing merely of one palea which is hairy on the outside and awried on the back : 

 the central (terminal) flower perfect, of 2 awnless ehartaeeous palea;, 2-androu9. 

 Glumes very thin, acute, keeled ; the upper about as long as the flowers, twice 

 the length of the lower. Squamulaj none. Grain ovate, adherent to the enclos- 

 ing palea3. (Name compounded of avdos, flower, and ai/$o>j/, of flowers. Z-.) 



1. A. ODOR\TUM, L. Spikelets spreading (brownish or tinged with green) ; 

 one of the neutral flowers bearing a bent awn from near its base, the other short- 

 awned below the tip. j| Meadows, pastures, c. ; very sweet-scented in dry- 

 ing. May -July. (Nat. from Eu.) 



55. PIIALARIS, L. CANARY-GRASS. 



Spikelets crowded in a dense or spiked panicle, with 2 neutral mere rudiments 

 of a flower, one on each side, at the base of the perfect one, which is flatfish, 

 awnless, of 2 shining paleiu, shorter than the equal boat-shaped and often win-ed- 

 keelcd glumes, finally coriaceous or cartilaginous, and closely enclosing the 

 flattened free and smooth grain. Stamens 3. Leaves broad, flat. ( The an- 

 cient name, from t^aXos, shiniw/, alluding cither to the paleiu or the grain.) 



1. P. arillldiBiaCCa. L. (RKKD CANAKY-GKASS.) Panieic moiv or 

 less branched, clustered, a little spreading when old; I//IXIHS f/vW, *., with ilat- 

 fcened pointed tips ; rudimentary flowers hairy, i the length of the fertile one. 1| 



