MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 547 



TRIBE 8. PHALARIDEAE 



116. HIEROCHLOE R. Br. 



(Savastana Schrank; Torresia Ruiz and Pav.) 



Spikelets with 1 terminal perfect floret and 2 staminate florets, disarticu- 

 lating above the glumes, the staminate florets falling attached to the fertile 

 one; glumes equal, 3-nerved, broad, thin and papery, smooth, acute; staminate 

 lemmas about as long as the glumes, boat-shaped, hispidulous, hairy along the 

 margin; fertile lemma somewhat indurate, about as long as the others, smooth 

 or nearly so, awnless; palea 3-nerved, rounded on the back. Perennial, erect, 

 slender, sweet-smelling grasses, with small panicles of broad, bronze-colored 

 spikelets. Type species, Hierochloe antarctica (Labill.) R. Br. Name from 

 Greek hieros, sacred, and chloe, grass, holy grass; H. odorata was used in parts 

 of Europe for "strewing before the doors of churches on festival days." 



Flowering culms with short blades only (rarely to 10 cm. long) with few to many long-leaved 

 sterile shoots at base. 



Staminate lemmas bearing exserted awns 1. H. alpina. 



Staminate lemmas awnless or nearly so 2. H. odorata. 



Flowering culms with blades 25 to 50 cm. long. 3. H. occidentalis. 



1. Hierochloe alpina (Swartz) 

 Roem. and Schult. (Fig. 793.) Culms 

 10 to 40 cm. tail, tufted, with leafy 

 shoots at base and short rhizomes; 

 blades 1 to 2 mm. wide, the basal 

 ones elongate, those of the culm 

 shorter and wider; panicle contracted, 



3 to 4 cm. long; spikelets short- 

 pediceled, 6 to 8 mm. long; staminate 

 lemmas ciliate on the margin, awned 

 below the tip, the awn of the second 

 lemma 5 to 8 mm. long, bent, twisted 

 below, that of the first a little shorter, 

 straight; fertile lemma acute, ap- 

 pressed-pubescent toward apex. % 

 — Arctic regions, Greenland to Alas- 

 ka, south to Newfoundland and 

 Quebec; alpine meadows and rocky 

 slopes, high mountains, Maine, New 

 Hampshire, Vermont, New York, 

 and Montana; Europe. 



2. Hierochloe odorata (L.) Beau v. 

 Sweetgrass. (Fig. 794.) Culms 30 

 to 60 cm. tall, with few to several 

 leafy shoots and slender, creeping- 

 rhizomes; blades 2 to 5 mm. wide, 

 sometimes wider, those of the sterile 

 shoots elongate, those of the culm 

 mostly less than 5 cm. long, rarely 

 to 10 cm. long; panicle pyramidal, 



4 to 12 cm. long, from somewhat 

 compact to loose with slender droop- 

 ing branches; spikelets mostly short- 

 pediceled, 5 mm. long; staminate 



Figuhe 793. — Hierochloe alpina. Plant, X 1 ; spikelet 

 and floret, X 5. (Hitchcock 16058, N. H.) 



lemmas awnless or nearly so, fertile 

 lemma pubescent toward the apex. 

 91 — Meadows, bogs, and moist 

 places, Labrador to Alaska, south to 

 New Jersey, Indiana, Iowa, Oregon, 

 and in the mountains to New Mexico 

 and Arizona; Eurasia. The Indians 

 use the grass, known as Seneca grass, 

 to make fragrant baskets. Also called 

 holy grass and vanilla grass. A tall 

 form with culm blades 12 to 17 cm. 

 long, and a very loose lax panicle, 



