TRIANDRIA— DIGYNIA. Holcus. 107 



Engl. Bot. v. 1 2. t. 8 ] 2. Curt. Lond.fasc. 6. t. 6. A>*ap/? *. 35. 



Hook. Scot. 30. Stillingfl.Misc.t.5. Graves Br. Gr.t.45. Schrad. 



Germ. v. 1 . 26 1 . i/os/ Gram. v. 2. 33. t. 44. F/. Daw. t. 382. 

 Avena n. 1482. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 228. 

 Gramen paniculatum minimum molle. Scheuchz. Asr. 215. t. 4. 



/. 15. 

 G. paniculatum, puipuro-argenteum, locustis parvis, annuum. 



Moris, v. 3. 200. sect. 8. t.5.f.l\. Raii Syn. 407. 

 Caryophyllus arvensis glaber minimus. Bauh. Prodr. 105. /. 



On barren sandy heaths or hillocks, common. 



Annual. June, July. 



Root small, fibrous. Stems 4 to 6 inches high, with a few slender 

 leaves about the lower part, whose sheaths are smooth, purplish, 

 ribbed and striated, but not tumid and angular like the preceding. 

 Stipula lanceolate, taper-pointed. Panicle capillary, with mostly 

 ternate branches, which are nearly smooth, often purple, and a 

 little zigzag. Fl. smaller, and far more numerous, than the last, 

 shining with purple, green, and white. 



The whole plant is soon dried up, and can yield nothing but a little 

 early food for sheep. 



40. HOLCUS. Soft-grass. 



Sm. in Rees's Cycl. v. 18. Fl. Br. 88. Schrad. Germ. v. 1. 247. 

 sect. 1. Leers t. 7 '. f. 6, 7. 



Cal. of 2 unequal, keeled, ribless, awnless valves, containing 

 a spikelet of 2 Jlorets ; one of them perfect ; the other 

 with an abortive germ en. Cor. of 2 unequal valves ; the 

 larger ovate, keeled, awned at the back in one or both 

 florets, the aw?i incurved ; smaller much narrower, awn- 

 less. Nect. a cloven, smooth, membranous scale. Filam, 

 3 in each floret. Anth. notched at each end. Styles short, 

 widely spreading. Stigm. large, feathery. Seed coated 

 with the hardened permanent corolla. 



Root perennial. Stem erect, leafy. Fl. panicled, numerous. 



I concur with my learned friend Mr. Brown in separating 

 from this genus the Sorghum of old authors, whose cha- 

 racters I have given under that article in Rees's Cyclo- 

 paedia. Linnaeus combined that and other things, under 

 his Holcus, a name retained by Mr. Brown for the genus 

 Sorghum j the only point in which we differ. 



1. H. lanatus. Meadow Soft-grass. 



Calyx woolly. Lower floret perfect, awnless ; upper with 

 an arched awn. Leaves downy on both sides. Root 

 fibrous. 



