122 



GEAMINEAB (GEASS FAMILY) 



Fragrant perennials, with flat leaves and terminal panicles. (Name from iep6s, 



sacred, and xXAi;, grass; these sweet-scented grasses being strewn before church- 

 doors on saints' days in the North of Europe.) Savastana Schrank. 



1. H. odorita (L.) Wahlenb. (Vanilla or Seneca Grass.) Cuhas 3-6 dm. 

 high, from a creeping rootstock ; leaves short, lanceolate, scab- 

 rous or smoothish ; those of the sterile shoots long and scabrous ; 

 panicle pyramidal, 4-12 cm. long, usually compact but some- 

 times loose, the slender branches drooping ; spikelets 5 mm. 

 long, brownish ; staminate lemmas hispid-cUiate on the margins 

 and below the apex on the keel, awnless; fertile lemma hairy 

 at the apex. (.ff. borealis R. & S.) — Moist meadows, chiefly 

 northw. , near the coast, and along the Great Lakes. May-July. 

 (Eurasia.) Fig. 78. — The loose-panicled form, Savastana 

 Nashii Bicknell, is not specifically distinct. 



2. H. alpina (Sw.) R. & S. Culms 1-4 dm. high, tufted; 

 upper sheaths inilated ; blades veiy small, the lowest and those 

 of the sterile shoots long and linear, smooth; panicle con- 

 tracted, 2-5 cm. long ; spikelets 7-8 mm. long, olivaceous ; 

 staminate lemmas oiliate on the margins, the first short^awned 

 below the apex, the second with a longer (5-8 mm.) bent awn 

 from belovr the middle ; fertile lemma mucronate. — Alpine regions, N. E., N. Y., 

 and north' r. July, Aug. (Eu.) 



ts. H. odorata. 

 Closed spikelet ; 

 same opened and 

 with glumes sep- 

 arated x2. 



22. MfLIUM [Toum.] L. Millet Grass 



Spikelrts 1-flowered, rhachilla articulated below the floret ; 

 glumes equal ; lemma slightly shorter, shining, indurated, the 

 margins inrolled over a similar palea; grain inclosed within t^e 

 lemma and palea, free. — Our species perennial with flat leaves 

 and open pf.aicles. (The ancient Latin name of the millet — 

 which, ho\(over, belongs to a different genus — of uncertain 

 meaning. ) 



1. M. fif&sum L. Smooth ; culms rather slender, simple, 

 1-1.5 m. hi«;h ; leaves 1-3 dm. long, 8-16 mm. wide ; panicle 

 1-2 dm. lorjg, the slender branches in remote pairs or fascicles, 

 widely spr'-ading or drooping, spikelet-bearing from about the 

 middle; spikelets 3-3.5 mm. long; glumes minutely scabrous. 

 — Cold dalip woods and mountain meadows, N. S. to 111., 

 and northw. — The fruit (mature floret) resembles that of 

 Panicum. June-Aug. (Eu.) Fig. 79. 



79. M. effQSum. 

 Part of panicle x %. 

 Closed and open 

 spikelets x 8. 



28. 0RYZ6pSIS Michx. Mountain Rich 



Spikelets 1-flowered, in narrow few-flowered panicles ; glumes rather broad, 

 obtuse or abruptly acute ; floret with a short obtuse callus ; lemma (not over 

 1 cm. long) convolute, somewhat indurated, including the rather large palea and 

 perfect flower, terminating in a deciduous simple slender awn ; grain oblong- 

 ellipsoid, tightly included in the indurated lemma. — Tufted perennials. (Name 

 composed of ipv^a, rice, and S^is, appearance, from a fancied resemblance to 

 that grain.) 



* Spikelets, excluding awn, 3-4 mm. long. 



1. 0. piingens (Torr.) Hitchc. Culms densely tufted, 2-6 dm. high, erect, , 

 slender, simple ; sheaths usually crowded at the base, smooth or slightly scabrous ; 

 blades involute-filiform, the basal ones sometimes as long as the culm, usually 

 half its length, those of the culm short ; panicle 3-6 cm. long, branches erect or 

 ascending ; glumes . suhequal, obscurely 5-nerved ; lemma usually as long as 

 the glumes, appressed-pubescent ; awn 1-2 (rarely 6) mm. long, sometimes 

 wanting ; palea as long as the lemma. (0. canadensis Man. ed. 6 ; O. jnncea 

 PSP.) —Pry rocky or sandy soil, Lab. to N. T,, and w^stw. 



