674 GKAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 



53. HIEROCHLOA, Gmelin. Holt-Geass. 



Spikelets plainly 3-flo\vered, opcn-pauicled ; the flowers all with 2 palese : tha 

 two lower (lateral) flowers staminate only, 3-androus, sessile, often awned on the 

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

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

 or exceeding the spikelet, scarious ; palete ehartaceous. — Leaves linear or lan- 

 ceolate, flat. (Name composed of iepos, sacred, and x^"") grass ; these sweet- 

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

 of Europe.) 



1. H. borealis, Roem. & Schultes. (Vanilla or Seneca Gkass.) 

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

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

 the tip ; rootstock creeping. 1|. (Holcus odoratus, L.) — Moist meadows, IJpss. 

 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, Eoem. & Schultes. Panicle contracted (1'- 2' long) ; one 

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

 long-awned from below the middle; lowest leaves veiy nan-ow. y. — Alpine 

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



54. ANTHOXAJVTHUMjL. S weet-scknted Veknal-Grass. 



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

 ing merely of one palea which is haiiy on the outside and awned on the back : 

 the central (terminal) flower perfect, of 2 awnless chartacoous palea3, 2-androus. 

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

 the length of the lower. Squamul^e none. Grain ovate, adherent to the enclos- 

 ing palese. (Name compounded of avBos, flower, and av6a>v, of flowers. L.) 



1. A. oboeXtum, 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. IJ. — Meadows, pastures, &c. ; very sweet-scented in dry 

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



55. PHAL,ARIS, 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 flattish, 

 a^vnless, of 2 shining palese, shorter than the equal boat-shaped and often ivinged- 

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

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

 cient name, from (jiaXos, shining, .alluding either to the palcas or the grain.) 



1. P. arundinacea, L. (Reed Canary-Grass.) Panicle more or 

 less branched, clustered, a little spreading when old ; glumes wingless, with flat- 

 tened pointed tips ; rudimentary flowers hairy, J the length of the fertile one. Ij. 



