MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



301 



Figure 594.— Distribution of 

 Holcus lanatus. 



59. HOLCUS L. 



(Nolholcus Na&h) 



Spikelets 2-flowered, the pedicel disarticulating below the glumes, 

 the rachilla curved and somewhat elongate below the first floret, not 

 prolonged above the second floret; glumes about equal, longer than 

 the 2 florets; first floret perfect, the lemma awnless; second floret 

 staminate, the lemma bearing on the back a short awn. Perennials 

 with flat blades and contracted panicles. Standard species, Holcus 

 lanatus. Holcus, an old Latin name for a kind of grain. 



Rhizomes wanting 1. H. laxatus. 



Rhizomes present 2. H. mollis. 



1. Holcus lanatus L. Velvet grass. (Fig. 

 593, A.) Plant grayish, velvety-pubescent; 

 culms erect, 30 to 60 cm tall; blades 4 to 8 

 mm wide; panicles 8 to 15 cm long, con- 

 tracted, pale, purple-tinged; spikelets 4 mm 

 long; glumes villous, hirsute on the nerves, the 

 second broader than the first, 3-nerved; lem- 

 mas smooth and shining, the awn of the second 

 hooklike. % — Open ground, meadows, and 

 moist places, Maine to Iowa, south to Georgia and Louisiana; com- 

 mon on the Pacific coast, British Columbia, and Idaho to Arizona and 

 California (fig. 594); introduced from Europe; occasionally cultivated 

 as a meadow grass on light or sandy land. 



2. Holcus mollis L. (Fig. 593, B.) Culms glabrous, 50 to 100 cm 

 tall, with vigorous slender rhizomes; sheaths, except the lower, 

 glabrous; blades villous or velvety, 4 to 10 mm wide; panicle ovate or 

 oblong, rather loose, 6 to 10 cm long; spikelets 4 to 5 mm long; 

 glumes glabrous; awn of the second floret geniculate, exserted, about 

 3 mm long. 91 — Damp places, recently introduced from Europe 

 and apparently spreading, Washington to Calif ornia ; Lewis County, 

 N. Y.; ballast, Camden, N. J. (fig. 595). 



60. DANTHONIA Lam. and DC. Oatgrass 



Spikelets several-flowered, the rachilla readily disarticulating above 

 the glumes and between the florets; glumes about equal, broad, 



papery, acute, mostly exceeding the upper- 

 most floret; lemmas rounded on the back, 

 obscurely several-nerved, the apex bifid, the 

 lobes acute, usually extending into slender 

 awns, a stout flat, twisted, geniculate awn aris- 

 ing from between the lobes. Tufted low or 

 moderately tall perennials, with few-flowered 

 open or spikelike panicles of rather large 

 spikelets. All our species produce cleistogenes 

 or 2-flowered, cleistogamous spikelets) in the 



Figure 595.— Distribution of 

 Holcus mollis. 



(enlarged fertile, 1 



lower sheaths, the culms finally disarticulating at the lower nodes. 

 Type species, Danthonia spicata. Named for Etienne Danthoine. 



The species are found in grassland and contribute somewhat toward 

 the forage value of the range but usually are not abundant. In Cali- 

 fornia D. calif ornica is considered a nutritious grass; D. compressa is 

 important in t he mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. 



» Chase, A. axillary cleistogenes in some American grasses. Amer. Journ. Bot. 5: 254. 1918. 



