574 GRAMINT,^. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



53. Ill EH 6 III.O A, Gmelin. HOLY-GRASS. 



Spikelets plainly 3-flowercd, opcn-panicled ; the flowers all with 2 palcaa the 

 two lower (lateral) flowers stnminate only, 3-iuidrous, sessile, often awned on the 

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

 pedicelled, scarcely as long as the others, 2-androus, awnless. Glumes equalling 

 or exceeding the spikelet, scarious ; paleae chartaceous. Leaves linear or lan- 

 ceolate, flat. (Name composed of iepos, sacred, and xh6a, grass ; these sweet- 

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

 of Europe.) 



1. H. borealis, Room. & Schultes. (VANILLA or SENECA GRASS.) 

 Panicle somewhat one-sided, pyramidal (2' -5' long); peduncles smooth; 

 Btaminate flowers with the lower palea mucronate or bristle-pointed at or near 

 the tip ; rootstock creeping. 1J. (Holcus 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. H. alpina. Roem. & Schultes. Panicle contracted (!'- 2' long) ; one 

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

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

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



54. A N T H O X A N T II U ME , L. SWEET-SCENTED VERNAL-GRASS. 



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

 ing merely of one palca which is hairy on the outside and awned on the back : 

 the central (terminal) flower perfect, of 2 awnless chartaceous palese, 2-androus. 

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

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

 ing paleas. (Name compounded of avdos, flower, and av6<&v, of flowers. Z.) 



1. A. ODORATUM, 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. 1J. Meadows, pastures, c. ; very sweet-scented in dry 

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



55. PHAL.AR1S, 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 (lattish, 

 awnless, of 2 shining palese, shorter than the equal boat-shaped and often winged- 

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

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

 cient name, from <^>aXor, shining, alluding cither to the palese or the grain.) 



1. P. arundiliacea, L. (REED CANARY-GRASS.) PanicJe more or 

 less branched, clustered, a little spivjiding when old ; ////w/.s - itb flat- 



tened pointed tips ; rudimentary Jlutnrs Imii'y, 3 t' lc length of I he fertile one. H 



