TRIANDRIA— DIGYNIA. Holcus. 107 



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 GjcL v. 18. FL Br. 88. Schracl Germ. v. 1. 247. 

 sect.l. Leers t. 7. f. 6,7. 



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

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

 with an abortive germen. Cor, of 2 unequal valves ; the 

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

 florets, the axDii incurved ; smaller much narrov/er, 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. 



Boot 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- 

 j^ccdia. Linnaeus combined that and other things, under 

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

 Soighum ; 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 fi- 

 brous. 



Holcus lanatus. Linn. Sp. PL 1485. PVillcL v. 4. 933. Fl. Br. 89. 



EngL Bat. v.\7.L\l 69. Curt. Lond.fasc. A.t.W. Knapp t. 37. 



Slncl. 41. Hook. Scot. 28. Schrad. Germ. v. 1. 251. Leera 2\9. 



t. 7. f.6. Host Gram. r. 1. 2. t. 2. Schreb. Gram. v. 1. 145. 



t.20.f. 1. 

 Avena n. 1484. HalL Hist. v. 2. 229. 

 Gramen pratense paniculatum molle. Bauh. Theatr.27.f. Prodr. 



5.f. Sclieuchz. Agr. 234. t. 4./. 24, A, B. 

 G. miliaceum pratense molle. Rail Syn. 404. 



Abundant in meadows and pastures. 



Perennial. June, July. 



Root tufted, not creeping. Stems erect, simple, IJ or 2 feet high ; 

 smooth above -, clothed in the lower part wilh soft deflexed 

 hairs, as arc also the sheatlis of the no less soft and downy 

 leaves. Stipula short and blunt. Panicle thrice compound, erect. 



