Illustrated Descriptions of the Grasses 



acute; flowering scales short-hairy at base, divided at apex and 

 bearing a dorsal awn about 4"-5" long. Stamens 3, 



In woods and on rocky hills in the 



shade. June to August. 

 New Brunswick to British Columbia, 

 south to Pennsylvania. 



BROAD-LEAVED 



SPIKE-GRASS, 



SLENDER SPIKE-GRASS, 



AND SEASIDE OATS 



"by rushy brook. 

 Or on the beached margent of the sea." 



So strikingly ornamental are 

 the panicles of Broad-leaved 

 Spike-grass that one assumes it 

 to have been among the cherished 

 plants removed from English 

 homes and carefully cultivated in the 

 walled gardens of long ago. But instead 

 this is distinctly an American grass, as are 

 the several members of the genus. Blos- 

 soming in late summer, in the borders of 

 moist woods and along winding streams, the 

 large panicles call to mind those old-time 

 bouquets of dried grasses that needed but 

 a touch to start them trembling with faint 

 intimations of the music that was theirs 

 when the breeze, passing over the flowering- 

 heads, shook the ripening spikelets, one 

 against another. The rich green leaves are 

 numerous and widely spreading, and above 

 them the panicles rise like those of a giant 

 Brome-grass, the long, slender pedicels 

 drooping with the weight of the broad 

 spikelets. 



Slender Spike-grass (Umola Idxa) blooms 

 at the same season in sandy soil, usually 

 near the coast, but shows little resemblance 

 183 



Broad-leaved Spike-grass 

 Vniola lalijolia 



