Toothache Grass

Ctenium aromaticum (Walt.) Wood, Class-Book ed. 1861 806. 1861.
Aegilops aromalicum Walt. Fl. Car. 249. 1788. (Type from South Carolina.)
Nardus scorpioides Lam. Tab. Encyc. 1: 152. 1791. (Type from America.)
Chloris monostachya Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 59. 1803. (Type from South Carolina, Michaux.)
Campulosus gracilior Desv. Nouv. Bull. Soc. Philom. 2: 189. 1810. (Based on Chloris monostachya
Michx.) Campulosus monoslachyus Beauv. Agrost. 64, 157, 158. 1812. (Based on Chloris monostachya
Michx.) Ctenium carolinianum Panzer, Denks. Akad. Miinch. 1813: Math. Phys. 311. 1813. (Type from
South Carolina.) Cam puloa gracilis Desv. Jour, de Bot. Desv. II. 1: 69. 1813. (Based on Chloris monostachya
Michx.) Monocera aromatica Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1: 177. 1816. (Based on Aegilops aromalicum Walt.) Campuloa monostachya R. & S. Syst. Veg. 2: 516. 1817. (Based on Chloris monostachya Michx.) Cynodon monostachyos Rasp. Ann. Sci. Nat. 5: 303. 1825. (Based on Campulosus monoslachyus
Desv. [error for Beauv.]) Ctenium americanum Spreng. Syst. 1: 274. 1825. (Type from North America, Chloris monostachya
Michx., cited as synonym.) Campulosus aromaticus Trin.; Steud. Nom. Bot. ed. 2. 1 : 272, as synonym of C. monoslachyus Beauv.
1840. Chloris piperita Michx.; Steud. Nom. Bot. cd. 2. 1: 353, as synonym of Campulosus monoslachyus
Beauv. 1840. Rottboellia scorpioides Poir.; Steud. Nom. Bot. cd. 2. 2: 474, as synonym of Ctenium americanum
Spreng. 1841. Campulosus gracilis Bertol. Mem. Accad. Bologna 2: 602. 1850. (Type specimen from Alabama.) ^Campulosus gangitis Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 764. 1891. (Based on Nardus gangitis L., taken up for
Ctenium aromaticum.) Campulosus aromaticus Scribn. Mem. Torrcy Club S; 45. 1894. (Based on Aegilops aromalicum
Walt.) iCienium gangitum Druce. Rep. Bot. Exch. Club Brit. Isles 3: 416. 1914. (Based on Nardus
gangitis L., taken up for C. aromaticum.)
Culms den.sely tufted, erect, 1-1.5 meters tall, pubescent below the spike; sheaths shorter than the internodes, rounded on the back, scaberulous, the lower ones becoming shredded with age; ligule membranaceous, 1-3 mm. long, erose; culm-blades flat or involute, 5-10 cm. long, 1-3 mm. wide, glabrous or scaberulous, those on the innovations as much as 40 cm. long, 5 mm. wide, often rolled and tortuous; spike 5-15 cm. long, arcuate; first glume 2.5 mm. long, acuminate; second glume 5-7 mm. long, acute, scabrous between the nerves, the margins glabrous, the awn stout, awl-shaped, scabrous, 3-5 mm. long; first sterile lemma 3-5 mm. long, the margins ciliate at the middle, the awn straight, 2-3 mm. long; second sterile lemma 4-6 ram. long, with a tuft of hairs on the margins at the middle, otherwise glabrous or nearly so, the awn stout, curved, 4—5 mm. long; fertile lemma 4.5-5.5 mm. long, the margins ciliate at the middle, glabrous on the back, the awn 1-2 mm. long; reduced upper floret 3-4 mm. long, glabrous, nearly awnless.
Typ8 locality: South Carolina.
Distribution: Wet pine barrens on the Coastal Plain, New Jersey to Florida and Louisiana.

Perennials, Aquatic, leaves emergent, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome short and compact, stems close, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems mat or turf forming, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Plants aromatic or malodorous, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobe d membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence a dense slender spike-like panicle or raceme, branches contracted, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence curved, twisted or nodding, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Inflorescence branches terminating in bristle or point, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets with 1 terminal fertile floret and 2 lateral staminate or sterile florets, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets secund, in rows on one side of rachis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glumes awn ed, awn 1-5 mm or longer, Glume awns divergent, Glumes keeled or winged, Glumes glandular, Glumes 1 nerved, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex dentate, 2-fid, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn less than 1 cm long, Lemma awn subapical or dorsal, Lemma awns straight or curved to base, Lemma straight, Callus or base of lemma evidently hairy, Callus hairs equal to lemma, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea shorter than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.

Ctenium aromaticum is a species of grass known by the common name toothache grass. It is native to the southeastern United States, where it grows on the coastal plain.

This is a perennial grass that forms clumps of stems reaching 1 to 1.5 meters in maximum height. The leaves are up to 46 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a panicle with one branch that is up to 15 centimeters long and lined on one side with two rows of spikelets. Each spikelet is roughly a centimeter long.

It is not known whether or not the grass was ever used as a remedy for toothache. It has, however, been used as a sialagogue, an agent that increases saliva. The crushed roots have a strong scent. The lower part of the stem produces a numbing sensation when it is chewed. The agents responsible for this action are isobutylamides.