The Book of Grasses 



Europe for the seeds, which have been used as a cereal as well as 

 for bird food, has been introduced in this country and may now 

 be found in waste places. The short, thick spikes are about an 

 inch in length and are strikingly marked by their white and green 

 scales. 



Under the names of Ribbon-grass, Lady's Ribbons, Gardeners' 

 Garters, Painted-grass, and French-grass, a variety of the Reed 

 Canary was planted in the gardens of earlier days. Gerard, in his 

 " Herball," describes the leaves of this plant as fashioned "like 

 to laces or ribbons woven of white or greene silke, very beautiful 

 and fair to behold," and these striped leaves with their rare, 

 silver-like lustre, are occasionally found by our waysides where 

 the grass has escaped from cultivation. 



Reed Canary-grass. Phdlaris arundindcea L. 



Stem 2-5 ft. tall, stout, erect. Sheaths smooth. Ligule \"-2" long. 



Leaves 4'- 12' long, 3"-9" wide, roughish, flat. 

 Panicle 3'-8' long, densely flowered, open in flower, contracted before and 



after blossoming. Spikelets i -flowered, 2\"-^" long, green strongly 



tinged with rose-purple. Scales 5; outer scales rough, about equal; 



3d and 4th scales reduced to hairy rudiments; flowering scale hairy. 



Stamens 3, anthers yellow or lavender. 

 Moist ground and shallow water. June to August. 

 Nova Scotia to British Columbia, south to Maryland, Tennessee, and 



Arizona. 



SWEET VERNAL-GRASS 



"Two gentle shepherds, and their sister-wives, 

 With thee, Anthoxa! lead ambrosial lives." 



* 



The student is fortunate who begins the analysis of grasses 

 with the Sweet Vernal, as did Darwin, who wrote of it: "1 have 

 just made out my first grass, hurrah ! hurrah ! 1 must confess that 

 fortune favours the bold, for, as good luck would have it, it was the 

 easy Anthoxanthum odordium; nevertheless it is a great discovery; 

 I never expected to make out a grass in my life, so hurrah! It has 

 done my stomach surprising good." 



Sweet Vernal is the first grass to attract one in early spring as 

 in April it pushes up its compact, spike-like panicles to expand 

 them soon with the open blossoms, whose large, violet anthers, as 

 in many wind-fertilized plants, furnish the colour that is lacking in 

 the tiny flower. 



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