GRASS FAMILY 



555 



panicle erect, with spreading branches ; outer glumes lanceolate, 

 keeled, but not winged or awned, whitish with 3 green nerves. — 

 On river banks and in marshes, especially on sand ; common. — ■ 

 Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



7. Anthoxanthu.m (Vernal-grass). — Sweet-scented plants with 

 stalked spikelets in a spike-like panicle ; lowest glume i-nerved, 

 2nd larger, 3-nerved, 3rd and 4th shorter, bifid, with dorsal 

 awns ; flowering glume blunt, 5 — 7-nerved ; stamens 2. (Name 

 from the Greek anthos, flower, and 

 xanthos, yellow.) 



1. A. odordtum (Sweet Vernal- 

 grass). — Erect, shining, 6 — 18 in.: 

 high ; leaves hairy ; panicle oblong, 

 spike-like, interrupted below, 1 — 5 in. 

 long; anthers purple in meadow 

 form, yellow in woods. — Pastures, 

 abundant, containing the aromatic 

 principle coumarin, which exists also 

 in Woodruff, Melilot, and Tonka- 

 bean, and imparts its sweet scent to 

 new-made hay. — Fl. May — July. 

 Perennial. 



2* A. aristdtum, a smaller species, 

 with many slender, much-branched 

 stems ; lax panicles ; long, slender 

 awns ; and a fainter perfume. — Occurs 

 occasionally as a modern introduction 

 in sandy fields. — Fl. July — Septem- 

 ber. Annual. 



8. Hierochloe (Holy-grass), of 

 which H. odordta (Northern Holy- 

 grass) is the only British species, is a 

 fragrant grass, about a foot high, 

 glabrous, with creeping root-stock; 

 tufted stems ; long ligules ; a spreading panicle of small, brown, 

 shining, ovate, 3-flowered spikelets ; flowering glume with short 

 awn ; the two lower flowers with 3 stamens, the uppermost perfect, 

 with 2 stamens. — Wet banks, Caithness. (Name from the Greek 

 hieros, holy, chloe grass, it having been used to strew on church 

 floors.) 



9. Alopecurus (Foxtail-grass). — Spikelets much compressed 

 laterally, i-flowered, densely crowded into a cylindric, spike-like 

 panicle ; outer glumes nearly equal, often connate below, awnless ; 



anthoxAnthum odorAtuik 

 (Sweet Vernal-grass). 



