122 



GKAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 



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

 sacred, and x'^^^ grass; these sweet-scented grasses being strewn before church- 

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



1. H. odorata (L.) VVahlenb. (Vanilla or Seneca Grass.) Culms 3-6 dm. 

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

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

 jmnicle 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. horealis 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, 2-0 cm. long; spikelets 7-8 mm. long, olivaceous; 

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

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

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

 and north w. July, Aug. (Eu.) 



7S. H. o(l<»rata. 

 Closed spikelet ; 

 same opened and 

 with <rlunnes sep- 

 arated X 2. 



22. MILIUM [Tourn.] 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.) 



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

 1-L5 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 north w, — The fruit (mature floret) resembles that of 

 Panicum. June-Aug. (Eu.) Fig. 79. 



79. M. effusiim. 

 Part of prmicle X %. 

 Closed and open 

 spikelets x 3. 



23. 0RYZ6pSIS 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. (Naint- 

 composed of 6pv^a, nee, and 6\pis, 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 tiie culm, usually 

 half its length, those of the culm sliort ; panicle 3-<» cm. long, branches erect or 

 ascending ; glumes suli£i(iual, obscurely 5-nerved ; lemma usually as long as 

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

 wanting; palea as l(»ng as tlie lemma. (0. canadensis Man. ed. <> ; O. jnncea 

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



