i$4 TRIANDRTA. DIGYNIA. Avena. 



agrees so well with that of the Holcus that some have thought it 

 best placed under that genus, and Gmelin has called it Holcus 

 awnaceitS) under which name it will be found in this work ; but 

 its habit authorizes us to retain it as an Avena, especially when 

 we subjoin the following remarks by which it may be dis- 

 tinguished from that var. of Holcus mollis which contains 2 or 3 

 florets in each calyx, one of them male. This species of Holcus 

 has none of those large bulb-like knots at the root and the base 

 of the straw which are so remarkable in the Avena elatior. 

 The panicle of the latter is 8 or 10 inches long, in the former 

 hardly half that length. In the Avena the leaves and sheaths 



i knots on the joints only are woolly, but 

 in the Holcus almost the whole plant is set with soft hairs. 



Tall Oat-grass or Oat. Holcus avenaceus. Gmel. syst. veg.- 



E. bot. Wet and damp places. Meadows, pastures, and hollow 



ways 



j 



nu'da. A. Panicled: calyx 3 -flowered, shorter than the recepta- 

 cle : petals awned upon the back : the 3d floret awn- 

 less. ^ 



Dicks, h. s.-II. ox. viii. 7. 4-Ger. 68. 2-C. B. W\~J. B. 

 ii. 433, cap. xxi.-IW. 511. 2-Ger. em. 75. 2-Park. 

 1134. 2. 



The seeds when ripe fall out of the husks. Linn. Spikets 

 with 2 or 3 florets. Awn neither twisted nor jointed. Hall. 

 Panicle 5 to 8 inches long, lower branches subdivided. Cal. and 

 Bloss. ribbed. A<wn about the length of the blossom. 



Naked Oat.. Pilcorn. Pills. Staffordshire. Plot.— Culti- 

 vated in Cornwall. Kay. A. July.t 





fat'ua. 



hairy at the base. 



k vned 



M 



^ Bloss. with a few long hairs near the end, as well as shorter 

 hairs at the base. A<vun twice the length of the blossom, knee- 

 bent at a joint which stands even with the top of the calyx. 



Cows, sheep, and goats cat it. — The roots are sometimes very 

 troublesome to the farmers in arable lands. St. producing a kind of squitch. 

 it affords a large crop, but is unpalateablc to cattle, especially to horsey 

 as are the Avenge in general. Mr. Swayne. 



t This is nearly as good as the cultivated oat ; it will make gruel or 

 oat cake, and feed cattle as well as that. Ray says it sells in Cornwall ^t 

 the price of wheat. 



