COMMON CRAB — SWEET-SCENTED VERNAL. 199 



CHAPTER XVII. 



COMMON CRAB GRASS — PROLIFIC PANIC GRASS — SWEET- 

 SCENTED VERBAL GRASS — PAMPAS GRASS — RAMIE- 

 RIBBON GRASS — CANARY GRASS — PIORIN — WHITE 

 CLOVER — JAPAN CLOVER — HERDS GRASS — ORCHARD 

 GRASS. 



COMMON CRAB GRASS.--(PamcMm Sanguinale.) 



The history and uses of this native grass have been fully 

 given with the Meadow grasses, on page 101, to which the 

 reader is referred. 



PROLIFIC PANIC GRASS.--(Pani»ra proliferum.) 



Another species of above, differing only in having the culms 

 thickened, succulent branched and bent, ascending from a procumbent 

 base, and spikelets appressed, lance — oval, of a pale green color. — Flint. 



It inhabits, as a general thing, river bottoms, though 

 sometimes appearing on dry hills. In its value as a graz- 

 ing-grass it is almost identical with the preceding. Cattle 

 are fond of it, and it grows spontaneously. 



SWEET-SCENTED VERNAL GB,ASS.—{Anthoxanthum odo- 

 ratum.) 



Spikelets spreading, three flowered; lateral flowers neutral, with one 

 palea, hairy on the outside, and awned on the back; glumes thin acute, 

 keeled, the upper twice as long as the lower; seed ovate, adhering to 

 the palea enclosing it; root perennial. Flowers in May and June. 

 Stems from one and a half to two feet high — Flint. 



This grass was introduced from Europe, and possesses 

 rather poor qualities as a pasture grass, as neither sheep nor 

 cattle relish it. It is early, however, and hardy. It is one 

 of the first as well as one of the last grasses that appear. 

 Its nutritive qualities are said to exist to a much larger 

 extent in the fall than in the spring, and greater when cut 



