Sweet Vernal Grass
Scientific name: Anthoxanthum odoratum L.
Family: Poaceae
MORPHOLOGY
Growth habit and size: Perennial tufted herbaceous plant, 30-60 cm tall.
Stem: Simple, smooth, stiff stems, erect or geniculate at the base, long and bare at the top.
Leaves: Flat leaves, 4-5 (10) mm wide, glabrous or sparsely hairy, finely pointed. Acute ligule, 2-3 mm long, fringed at the apex, membranous; hairy sheath at the junction with the blade.
Flowers: Inflorescence in a spicate panicle, ovoid-cylindrical, 2-8 cm long, greenish-yellow and shiny. Spikelets (6-7 mm) laterally compressed, shortly pedicellate with 2 sterile lower flowers and one upper hermaphroditic flower. Blooms from May to August.
Fruits and seeds: The fruit is a small caryopsis of 2 mm.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
Widespread throughout Italy in stable meadows, pastures, sparse broadleaved forests, at altitudes between 0 and 1600 m.
INTERESTING FACTS
Especially when dried, the plant emits a pleasant smell of coumarin. For this reason, it is not considered good forage, and herbivores do not find it appetizing. In the past, it was used to make women’s hats, for which it was cut while still green, boiled for 10 minutes in water, and then left to dry in the sun. After a week, having turned a beautiful golden color like straw, it was ready to be woven. Every time a hat got wet, it released a scent of freshly cut hay. It is highly allergenic.
Photo: Under the free license of Saxifraga and Ed Stikvoort, Piet Zomerdijk, Jan van der Straaten, Rutger Barendse
