The Book of Grasses 



heads seem loaded with cereal-Hke grain, so 

 large are the blossoms; in others the flowers 

 are few and far apart; while still others bear 

 small blossoms, abundant and crowded. 



It is a comparatively easy matter to refer 

 each Panic-grass to the genus Panicum; the 

 spikelets with their shining, porcelain-like 

 flowering scales are so characteristic of the 

 genus that they form an easily distinguished 

 feature, but even with the microscope it is 

 often difficult to determine those of the 

 several species that closely resemble one 

 another. 



Cockspur Grass, formerly included in 

 this genus, which it closely resembles, save 

 in its awn-pointed scales, is common in 

 cultivated lands, where its coarse, erect 

 panicles blossom soon after midsummer. 

 The plant varies greatly, sometimes cloth- 

 ing the flowering-heads in long awns, and again ap- 

 pearing practically awnless. In rich soil the plants are often six 

 feet tall, but in low grounds near thickets and brooks this grass 

 sometimes blooms when it is less than six inches in height. Old 



62 



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