157 



Fig. 151. HOLCUS LANATUS Linn. Sp. PI. 1048. 1753. VELVET GRASS.— A 

 perennial 3-6 dm. (l°-2°) high, with creeping rootstocks, flat leaves, and open 

 panicles, 5-8 cm. (2'-3') long; usually densely pubescent all over with soft, 

 whitish hairs. Spikelets (a) 4 mm. (2") long, with white-hairy empty glumes, 

 and glabrous flowering glumes [b) 2 mm. long, the first obtuse and awnless, 

 the second bearing a hooked awn just below the apex. — Introduced into this 

 country from Europe with other grasses and now widely distributed. Nova 

 Scotia to Ontario and Illinois south to North Carolina and Tennessee, also on 

 the Pacific coast, especially in Oregon and Washington. May to August. 



This grass is not well liked by stock and possesses little nutritive value. It 

 is of some value, however, on peaty or sandy soils where the better grasses 

 will not grow. 



