L2 GRAMINEAE. 



Moist places in the ('0:1st Ranges from Mendocino Co. southward. Apr.- 

 Oct. 



7. P. arundinacea L. Reed Canary-grass. Perennial; rootstock creep- 

 ing; stems stout, erect, usually .'! to (! ft. high; sheaths scarcely inflated; ligule 

 broad, clasping the stem, 2 to (i lines long, blades 4 to 12 in. long, 3 to 7 

 lines wide, scabrous on the margins, otherwise smooth; panicle 3 to (5 or 9 in. 

 long, often purplish, and much interrupted or lobed ; branches few at a node, the 

 Lower >•_> to 2 in. long; bracts linear-lanceolate, strongly keeled, scabrid; empty 

 bractlets 2, narrow, hairy, about */> the length of the flower-enclosing bractlet ; 

 the latter about 1% lines long, acuminate, sub-glabrous and shining. 



Moist places beside streams and sloughs: Niles; Upper Lake; Bakersfield. 

 Heal states that it is often called "Crazy-grass'' in the Northwest, as it is 

 thought to be injurious to horses. 



6. ANTHOXANTHUM L. Sweet Vernal-grass. 



Leaf blades flat. Panicle cylindrical, spikelike. Spikelets l-flowered; bracts 

 thin, herbaceous, persistent, keeled, lower 1-nerved, upper about twice its 

 length and 3-nerved ; flower perfect, terminal, subtended by 2 empty dorsally 

 awned bractlets which are clothed with brown hairs and are smaller than the 

 bracts; rachilla jointed above the bracts. Flower-enclosing bractlet and palea 

 alike, awnless, smooth, obtuse, at first hyal ; ne, then chartaceous; bractlet 

 enveloping the palea, with 3 very fine nerves; palea narrower, with 1 very fine 

 central nerve or keel. Scales obsolete. Stamens 2 ; anthers large, yellow. 

 Ovary glabrous; styles long, distinct; stigmas long. (Greek anthos, a' flower, 

 xanthos, yellow, in allusion to the yellow tint given to the spikelets by the 

 brightly colored anthers. Becoming fragrant in drying.) 



1. A. odoratum L. Sw t eet Vernal-grass. Perennial; stems % to 2 ft. 

 high, shining; sheaths furrowed, glabrous or pubescent, hairy at the mouth; 

 blades often sparingly hairy, 1% to 6 in. long; panicle 1 to IVo (rarely 5) in. 

 long, contracted, sometimes interrupted below ; branches very short ; spikelets 

 3 to 4 lines long, sub-sessile, often yellowish-green; lower bract ovate, acute, 

 about 2 lines long, hyaline; upper lanceolate, awn-pointed, about 4i/> lines 

 long; empty bractlets curved, emarginate or shortly bifid, iy 2 lines long; 

 awn short ; stigmas long-exserted. 



Introduced at Mendocino City and Crescent City, and reported by Dr. Behr 

 as occurring in Marin Co. May-July. Its fragrance is attributed to the pres- 

 ence of cumarin. 



7. HIEROCHLOE Gmel. Vanilla-grass. 

 Sweet-scented perennials, with Hat, often broad, acuminate leaf-blades. Panicle 

 loose, pyramidal. Spikelets somewhat laterally compressed, often shining and 

 scabrid, with 1 terminal, perfect flower, subtended by (in ours) 2 staminate 

 ones; bracts about equal, obscurely 1 to 3-nerved. keeled, acute, glabrous. 

 Staminate flowers sessile; bractlet and palea alike, villous, scarcely shorter than 

 the bracts, obtuse, emarginate or bifid, keeled, the main nerve often extending 

 into :i short awn; bractlet .l-nerved ; palea 2-nerved; stamens 3. Perfect tlower 



shortly pedicellate; bractlet becoming indurated above, awnless, 5-nerved; 

 palea narrow, 3-nerved or nerveless beyond the keel; stamens often 2 only. 

 Scales 2, lanceolate. Ovary smooth. (Greek lreros, sacred, chloe, a grass, 

 one species in north Europe used for strewing church floors.) 



1. H. macrophylla Thurb. Large-leaved Vanilla-grass. Hoot stocks in 



bunches (sometimes \erv large), stoloiii feroiis ; stems 1 to 2 ft. high, erect. 



