Anthoxanthum nipponicum

Anthoxanthum nipponicum, the Japanese sweet vernal grass, is a tufted perennial grass in the family Poaceae native to East Asia, including Japan, the Korean Peninsula, the Russian Far East, and northeastern China, where it grows in subalpine and alpine meadows, mountain grasslands, and forest clearings. The species is closely related to the more widespread Anthoxanthum odoratum (common sweet vernal grass) and shares its characteristic coumarin-scented foliage, which gives off a sweet vanilla-like smell when dried, crushed, or burnt. Plants form compact tufts 15-50 cm tall with slender erect culms arising from a fibrous root system without rhizomes. The leaves are flat, soft, 2-5 mm wide, bright green, sparsely hairy at the base, with a short rounded ligule. The inflorescence is a contracted ovoid to oblong dense spike-like panicle 2-6 cm long, becoming somewhat looser at maturity. Spikelets are about 6-8 mm long, lanceolate, with two sterile lemmas (a feature distinguishing Anthoxanthum from most grasses) that bear long bent awns up to 5 mm long, and a single small fertile floret. The plant flowers earlier than most associated grasses, an adaptation to short alpine seasons.