150 TRIANDRIA. DIGYNIA. hierochloa. 



eral Jlorets antheriferous, triandrous. Central Jloret 

 perfect, diandrous (rarely triandrous) Gmel. FL Sib. 

 I. p. 100. R. Brown Prod, I. p. 209. P. de 

 Beauv. Agrost. t. XII. f. 5. Roem. ^ Schult, 

 Gen. 284. Triyi. Agrost. 66. Torresia i?MZ2r. £s? 

 Pav. et P. de B. Holci spp. L, &c. Flowers in 

 ovale, contracted panicles. 



1. H. borealis R. ^ S. : panicle subsecund, a little 

 spreading ; peduncles smooth ; florets unarnncd ; inferior valve 

 of the corolla cihate on the margin; root creeping. Roem* 

 <^ Schult, IL p. 6 i 3. Hook. FL Scot. p. 28. H. repens 

 P. de B e auv. HoLCUS borealis S c hr a d. FL Germ. I. p. 

 252, H. ordoratus L. fV ill d. Spec. IV. 935. Mich. FL 



I. p. 56. Big. Bost. p. 245. U.fragrans fVilld. 1. c. p. 

 930. P ursh FL I. p. 78. Hierochloa fragrans R, ^ S. 



II. p. 514. 



Root perennial, creeping extensively. Culm a foot and a half 

 higli, erect, simple. Leaves smooth and shining ; the radical 

 ones very long ; those on the culm short, lanceolate, mncmnate. 

 Stifiule membranaceous, lanceolate. Panicle few-flowered, 

 2-3 inches long, pyramidal, spreading when the flowers are 

 ripe; primary branches single or in pairs ; brancblets flexuous. 

 ^ Sfiikelets very hroad, somewhat cordate, tumid, yellowish 

 brown and purple. Calyx generally a little lunger than the 

 florets; glunries ovate, acuminate, smooth, 3-nerved, purplish 

 towards the base ; the superior one longer. Inferior valve of 

 the anMerf/>rows^o?T^ ovate-oblong, hairy, very villous on the 

 margin, 5-nerved ; the middle nerve produced into a point or 

 short bristle, apex eroded ; superior valve a little longer, lan- 

 ceolate, bifid at the tip. Perfect Jloret resembling the lateral 

 ones in texture; inferior valve oblong, 5-nerved, sides and 

 margin smooth, apex villous ; superior valve as long as the 

 inferior, lanceolate, scabrous on the keel. 

 Hab. In bog-meadows; plentiful near Hackensack, Newark, 

 Sec. New-Jersey. On the island of New-York. May. 



A handsome grass, with a very agreeable odour, resembling 

 that of Anthoxanthum odoratum. It is generally called 

 Seneca grass. After a careful comparison of the North- 

 American plant with specimens of H. borealis from Norway 

 and Germany, I cannot discover any characters that will dis- 

 tinguish them. 



2. H. alpina R. ^ S. : panicle ovate, contracted; spike- 

 Jets compressed, longer than the branches ; glumes lanceolate, 

 almost nerveless ; lateral florets triandrous ; one of them v^^ith 

 an awn about as long as the valves ; sides almost smooth; mar- 

 gins ciliate. R em. ir S c'hu 1 1. I. p. 515. Holcus a/;?z- 

 nus Wahl. FL L'tpp. p. 3 1 . t. 2. II. moniicola Big do lu. 



