Illustrated Descriptions of the Grasses 





Eragrostis, like a reddish purple mist, often cover the ground, 



and although October frosts fade the flowering-heads to a pale 



straw-colour, they are 



still noticeable during 



autumn, when, as one 



of the tumbleweeds of ^-^^^ Ji>.\ ,/ v\Vi\ 



the East, they are carried 



by the wind and piled in ^^ .^^ .^ .^y . y 



huge drifts against way- .^^^^^m^^-^^ 



side fences. /^'t^^ 



In similar locations "^"^n^/'-'^'*' 



the panicles of Lace-grass — "^ 



{Eragrostis capillaris) in 

 green and purple are some- 

 times mistaken for those of 

 the larger species but should be dis- 

 tinguished by the shorter, few-flowered 

 spikelets, and by the absence of hairs 

 surrounding the base of the branches, 

 both these grasses the widel>' spreading 

 panicle is usually much longer than the 

 stem which supports it, and the hair-like 

 pedicels are as long or longer than their 

 spikelets. 



Tufted Eragrostis {Eragrostis pilosa) is 

 a slender annual which is found by way- 

 sides and on sandy river banks. The leaves 

 are very narrow, and the green or purple 

 panicles are shorter and narrower than in 

 the two species mentioned above. 



The ornamental grasses of old-time 

 gardens are called to mind as the Strong- 

 scented Eragrostis opens its showy panicles, 

 though surely this plant never found a place 

 by beds of lavender and rosemary, for it :; 

 emits a most offensive odour, which hap- 

 pily is not possessed by other grasses of the 

 Eastern States. The panicles are not long, 

 being rarely more than six inches in length, 

 but they are closely (lowered with large, 



179 



StronK-scentcd EruKrostis 

 Eragrostis meiastachya 



