''Anthoxanthum odoratum'' is a short-lived

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

grass, commonly known as sweet vernal grass, that is native to

acid An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. Hydron, hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis ...

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

and northern Africa. It is grown as a

lawn A lawn () is an area of soil-covered land planted with Poaceae, grasses and other durable plants such as clover lawn, clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawn mower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic an ...

grass and a

house plant A houseplant, also known as a pot plant, potted plant, or indoor plant, is an ornamental plant cultivated indoors. for aesthetic or practical purposes. These plants are commonly found in homes, offices, and various indoor spaces, where they contr ...

, due to its sweet scent, and can also be found on unimproved pastures and meadows. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

is Latin for 'odorous'.

Description

''Anthoxanthum odaoratum'' is a short-lived perennial grass that grows in tufts with stems up to tall. The leaves are short and broad, wide, and glabrous to loosely hairy. It flowers in late spring and early summer, i.e. quite early in the season, with flower spikes of long and crowded spikelets of , oblong shaped, which can be quite dark when young. The lower lemmas have projecting awns. The

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above g ...

s are quite long, up to , blunt, with hairy fringes around the side. The scent is particularly strong when dried, and is due to

coumarin Coumarin () or 2''H''-chromen-2-one is an aromatic organic chemical compound with formula . Its molecule can be described as a benzene molecule with two adjacent hydrogen atoms replaced by an unsaturated lactone ring , forming a second six-me ...

, a

glycoside In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. ...

, and

benzoic acid Benzoic acid () is a white (or colorless) solid organic compound with the formula , whose structure consists of a benzene ring () with a carboxyl () substituent. The benzoyl group is often abbreviated "Bz" (not to be confused with "Bn," which ...

– it smells like fresh

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

with a hint of

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

. The seed head is bright yellow in color. ''Anthoxanthum odoratum'' is experiencing parapatric speciation in areas of mine contamination.

Distribution

''Anthoxanthum odoratum'' is native to Europe and temperate parts of Asia, but is widely introduced and naturalised so that distribution is now Circumpolar Wide-temperate. It is ubiquitous at the 10 km square level in Britain.

Cultivation

It is grown by scattering seed on tilled ground in the spring through fall, germinating in 4 to 5 days. It prefers sandy loam and acidic conditions (a low pH). As an agricultural grass it has a low yield, but can grow on land too acidic for other grasses.

Gallery

Image:Anthoxanthum odoratum.jpg Image:Anthoxanthum odoratum (Billeder af nordens flora 1917ff., v2 0427) clean, no-description.jpg Image:Illustration_Anthoxanthum_odoratum0.jpg Image:AnthoxanthumOdoratum.jpg Image:anthoxanthum_odoratum_aehrchen_detail.jpeg Image:anthoxanthum_odoratum_aehre.jpeg Image:anthoxanthum_odoratum_scheidenhaare.jpeg Image:anthoxanthum_odoratum_blatt.jpeg Image:Anthoxanthum.odoratum.jpg Image:Anthoxanthum.odoratum.2.jpg Image:Anthoxanthum.odoratum.3.jpg

References

External links