Illustrated Descriptions of the Grasses 



Although many of our common grasses possess a faint and 

 agreeable odour in blossoming time, as well as in the hayfield. 

 Sweet Vernal-grass and Vanilla Grass are our wi, 



only strongly fragrant species, and after a May ^^ 

 shower the sweetness of country air is due, not to 

 the more noticeable blossoms of spring, but to the 

 countless spikes of Sweet Vernal, so abundant by 

 waysides and in upland meadows. The resinous 

 principle, coumarin, to which the fragrance is due, 

 is similar in odour to benzoin, and is found in a 

 number of other plants; one of these, the Blue 

 Melilot, is, in Switzerland, mixed with cheese to 

 which the plant imparts its peculiar odour, and 

 it has been said that in Italy water distilled from 

 Sweet Vernal-grass has been used as a perfume. 



The slender, satiny stems of this grass are of 

 beautiful texture and, with those of June Grass, 

 have been used in the weaving of imitation Leg- 

 horn hats, as well as in basketry. 



Sweet Vernal-grass. Anthoxdnthum odord- 

 tum L. 



Perennial. Naturalized from Europe. 



Stem 1-2 ft. tali, slender, erect. Ligule i"-2" long. 

 Leaves i'-6' long, i" 3" wide, flat, smooth or spar- 

 ingly downy. 



Spike-like Panicle i'-4' long, green or brownish. Spike- 

 lets I -flowered, narrow, 3"-4" long. Scales 5; outer 

 scales very unequal, often downy; 3d and 4th scales 

 hairy and bearing dorsal awns; awn of 4th scale 

 bent and twisted, more than twice the length of the 

 scale. Stamens 2, anthers violet. Stigmas white. 

 Plant very fragrant in drying. 



Waysides, meadows, and pastures. April to July. 



Throughout nearly the whole of North America. 



VANILLA GRASS 



"And because, the Breath of Flowers, is farre 

 Sweeter in the Aire, (where it comes and Goes, like the 

 Warbling of Musick) then in the hand, therefore nothing 

 is more fit for that delight, then to know, what be the Sw^et Vemai-grass 

 Flowers, and Plants, that doe best perfume the Aire." Zdomtum'"'^ 



97 



