GRASSES OF OHIO 
309 
Tribe, Phalarideae. Canary-grass Tribe. 
Grasses with laterally compressed spikelets jointed above the empty 
glumes, arranged in panicles or racemes; spikelets with one perfect 
dower and 2 staminate or vestigial dowers below, the vestiges sometimes 
reduced to mere scale-like or bristle-like lemmas or obsolete. 
50. Savastana Schrank. Vanilla-grass. 
Fragrant perennial grasses with flat leaves and terminal panicles. 
Spikelets 3-flowered, the terminal flower bisporangiate, the others 
staminate or vestigial; empty glumes subequal, acute, glabrous, and 
shining; lemmas of the staminate flowers boat-shaped, indurated, 
and hairy, each enclosing a 2-nerved palet and 3 stamens; lemma of 
the perfect flower similar but enclosing a 1-nerved palet and 2 
stamens; grain free, enclosed in the flowering glumes. 
1. Savastana odorata (L.) Scrib. Vanilla-grass. A glabrous 
grass with simple erect stems, 1-2 ft. high, from a creeping rhizome, 
and with a pyramidal, usually compact panicle with slender droop¬ 
ing branches. Spikelets brownish; staminate lemmas hispid-ciliate on 
the margins and below the apex on the keel, awnless; fertile lemma 
hairy at the apex. 
This sweet-scented grass is often strewn before churches in 
northern Europe, whence it is often called holy-grass. In moist 
meadows. May-July. Trumbull, Madison, Pickaway. 
51. Phalaris L. Canary-grass. 
Annuals or perennials with flat leaves and dense spike-like or 
capitate panicles. Spikelets 1-flowered, laterally flattened; empty 
glumes equal, boat-shaped, strongly compressed and usually wing- 
keeled; sterile lemmas minute; fertile lemma indurated and shining; 
palet faintly 2-nerved; grain oblong, free, enclosed in the flowering 
glumes. 
1 . Empty glumes not winged on the back; panicle narrow, branched. 
P. anindinacea. 
1. Empty glumes broadly wing-keeled on the back; panicle very dense, appear¬ 
ing like a short spike. P. canariensis. 
1. Phalaris arundinacea L. Reed Canary-grass. A glabrous 
perennial with simple erect stems, 2-5 ft. high, and a dense panicle 
with erect or slightly spreading branches. Spikelets lanceolate; 
sterile lemmas reduced to minute hairy scales; fertile lemma char- 
