Anthoxanthum odoratum

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1980, Flora Europaea. Volume 5. Alismataceae to Orchidaceae (Monocotyledones), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 230

1. A. odoratum L. , Sp. Pl. 28 (1753).

Caespitose perennial (10-)15-50(-100) cm. Leaves 2-8 mm wide, glabrous to sparsely hairy; sheaths smooth, glabrous or pubescent; ligule up to c. 4 mm, truncate. Inflorescence 1-9 cm, cylindrical, dense, very rarely with obvious branches. Spikelets 7-9 mm. Glumes hyaline, with green keel, the upper exceeding the florets and enfolding them. Lemma of sterile floiets with brown, sericeous hairs in the lower part; awn of upper sterile floret about as long as or slightly longer than the upper glume. Lemma of fertile floret suborbicular. 2/z=10, 20. Throughout Europe. All except Sb.

Diploids, known as A. alpinum A. & D. Love , Rep. Dept. Agric. Univ. Inst. Appi. Sci.\Reykjavik) ser. B., 3: 105 (1948), occur mainly in the N. part of the range of the species and on high mountains. In Scandinavia they can often be recognized by the glabrous leaves and glumes, but in the Alps no clear morphological distinction between diploids and tetraploids appears to exist. It therefore seems impossible to recognize subspecies within A. odoratum .