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Scented Grass
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Scented Grass
P Native Photo: Nidhan Singh
Common name: Scented Grass • Nepali: धाप्ले घाँस Dhaaple Ghaans, पटपटे खर Patapate Khar
Botanical name: Chrysopogon gryllus    Family: Poaceae (Grass family)
Synonyms: Rhaphis gryllus, Andropogon paniculatus, Andropogon gryllus

Scented Grass is a perennial herb forming tough bunches. Stems are robust, up to 1.5 m tall, rough below panicle. Leaf sheaths are strongly keeled at base; leaf blades linear, glaucous, up to 30 x 0.2-0.4 cm, sparsely to densely bristly with tubercle-based hairs or hairless, tip pointed to tapering. Flower-panicles are open to contracted, 6-25 cm, purplish; branches stiffly ascending to loosely spreading, 3-15 cm, tipped by a single triad or also with 1-4 spikelet pairs below the triad. Stalkless spikelet about 7 mm. Upper lemma is minutely 2-toothed, awned; awn geniculate, 1.2-3.5 cm, column finely velvet-hairy. Stalked spikelet staminate, 7-11 mm; lower glume with 3.5-7 mm awn. Flower-stalk 2/3–3/4 length of stalkless spikelet, hairless. Scented Grass is found on mountain slopes in the Himalayas, from HImachal to NE India, at altitudes of 800-2900 m. It is also found in S. Europe and N. Africa.

Identification credit: Manoj Chandran Photographed in Chakrata, Uttarakhand.

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