698 



H O L 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL: 



H O L 



thought that if the seeds were procured from Germany and 

 Switzerland, (climates not very different from our own,) that 

 Sorghum might b* advantageously cultivated upon some of 

 the warmer soils of our island. 



4. Holcus Halepensis: Panicled Holms. Glumes smooth; 

 hermaphrodite flowers awnless, female awned ; culm smooth 

 and even ; panicle spreading, purple ; awns white at the tip. 

 To each female or hermaphrodite flower, there are two male 

 flowers, which are pedicelled. The root is perennial, and 

 increased by lateral runners, like the reed. Allioni says it 

 grows wild near Turin, and other parts of Montserrat. 

 Native of Syria. 



5. Holcus Nitidus. Glumes one-flowered, villose, all the 

 flowers awnless ; culm round, upright, with bearded joints ; 

 panicle upright ; peduncles in a sort of whorl. It is smaller 

 than the preceding in all its parts, but has the same habit. 

 Native of the East Indies. 



6. Holcus Saccharatus; Yellow-seeded Holcus. Glumes 

 villose, all the seeds awned; root biennial; panicle large, 

 diffused. The male flowers scarcely open. The villosity of 

 the calix is as inconstant as the colour, and is almost always 

 lost in maturity; the colour generally changes to dark or 

 black : these circumstances therefore are unfit to use for 

 specific distinctions. This and the third species differ little 

 in habit or any thing else, except the one having a naked, 

 and the other an incrusted seed. Browne calls it Guinea 

 Wheat, and says it had been lately introduced into Jamaica. 

 Native of the East Indies, and cultivated in China and 

 Cochin-china. See the third species. 



7. Holcus Mollis ; Soft Holcus, or Creeping Soft-grass. 

 Glumes two-flowered, almost naked: hermaphrodite, floret 

 awnless ; male with a knee-jointed awn. It resembles the 

 next species. Mr. Curtis says it is usually a smaller plant, 

 or, if it be as tall, thai it has a much more scanty panicle. 

 The spikelets have not that brilliant colour which marks 

 those of the next species at their first appearance. This 

 grass also rarely occurs, except in and about woods and in 

 Ledges ; whereas the Lanatus is a very general grass in 

 meadows. It flowers in July, and is a very troublesome 

 weed with its creeping roots, especially in arable lands. 



B, Holcus Lanatus ; Woolly Holcus, or Meadow Soft-grass. 

 Glumes two-flowered, villose : hermaphrodite, floret awnless ; 

 male with a recurved awn; root perennial, but not creeping; 

 stems from two to three feet high, upright, round, pubescent, 

 with three or four joints. The velvet-like softness of the 

 whole plant, and the redness of the opening panicle, render 

 this grass very conspicuous. It abounds in meadows, is 

 frequent by road-sides, and sometimes grows on walls. It 

 flowers in June and July. Haller speaks highly of this grass 

 as food for cattle, but it is not at all esteemed among us. 

 The seed however being easily collected, is sometimes sent to 

 London in great quantities as pure grass-seed. Litjhtfoot says 

 that the stalks are used for making ropes for fishing boats in 

 the isle of Skye; but there are better grasses for this pur- 

 pose. Young, in his Annals, says, that a gentleman's horses 

 having been much disordered with a malady which caused 

 an extraordinary discharge of urine; the hay on which they 

 fed, being examined, was found to contain scarcely any other 

 grass but this ; and that on changing the hay, the distemper 

 ceased. This fact should be well ascertained, before the 

 Holcus Laoatus is recommended as one of tlie most valuable 

 kinds of meadow-grasses, aa it is by Dr. Anderson ; though 

 since he calls it Creeping Soft-grass, and talks of its running 

 rools, he may mean the preceding species, which certainly 

 is ono of the vilest weeds iu arabk lands. On the other 

 hand, Mr. Marshall, in his Rural Economy of YorksJure, says, 



that it is far from an eligible grass for cultivation, is now 

 entirely exploded by judicious husbandmen, and has been sup- 

 planted by Ray-grass ; the growers of the seed being the only 

 persons who have profited by its cultivation, eighty bushels 

 having been produced from an acre. It is known in Yorkshire 

 by the name of White Hay Seeds. In his Minutes of the Mid- 

 land Counties, he says it ranks high as a pasture plant, at 

 least for cattle ; that a piece which abounds in it to one half, 

 is esteemed excellent for cheese, favourable to the rearing of 

 young heifers, and the fatting of Scottish bullocks; and that 

 cattle of all kinds fare well upon it, except horses. . For the 

 propagation of this and the preceding species, see Grass. 



9. Holcus Laxus, Glumes two-flowered, smooth, awn- 

 less, acuminate ; panicle crowded, oblong ; culms two feet 

 high, narrow, somewhat nodding; peduncles usually two- 

 flowered. This has the habit of Aira Coerulea. Native of 

 Virginia and Canada. See Grass. 



10. Holcus Striatus. Glumes two-flowered, striated, awn- 

 less, acuminate; panicle crowded, oblong. Native of the 

 marshes of Virginia. See Grass. 



11. Holcus Serratus. Glumes two-flowered, pubescent, 

 awnless; leaves serrate; root perennial, creeping, covered at 

 top with sheaths of leaves in clusters ; culms decumbent at 

 bottom, branched, covered with the sheaths of leaves below, 

 naked above, a foot high, even, quite simple, almost leafless. 

 Found at the Cape of Good Hope. 



12. Holcus Odoratus ; Sweet-scented Holcus. Glumes 

 three-flowered, awnless, acuminate : hermaphrodite, flower 

 two-stamined ; root perennial, jointed, creeping ; culm three 

 feet high, with few joints. This grass has a sweet smell, and 

 is collected into bundles, to lay among clothes and linen; 

 and is hung over beds in some countries, with a view to 

 procure sleep. Native of wet pastures in the colder parts of 

 Europe, and also of Canada, and Siberia. See Grass. 



13. Holcus Redolens. Glumes three-flowered; side flo- 

 rets, male awned, hairy at the edge; the middle one subher- 

 maphrodite, awnless; culm upright, a foot high, smooth, 

 sheathed; panicle patulous, with filiform pedicels; stamina 

 three, fertile iu the males, barren in the middle flower. 

 Native of Terra del Fuego. 



14. Holcus Latifolius. Glumes three-flowered, the first 

 floret unarmed, two prickly at the edge ; leaves subovate ; 

 culm even, scarcely a foot high. Found in China. 



15. Holcus Pertusus ; Perforated Holcus. Spikes digitate ; 

 glumes with the outer valve punched with a hole in the mid- 

 dle ; culm jointed, even, ascending, branched, about a foot 

 high. Native of the East Indies. 



16. Guinea Grass, (so called from its having been origi- 

 nally introduced into the West Indies from the coast ol Africa,) 

 according to Browne, is a species of Holcus. The characters 

 of it, he says, agree pretty well with those of Panicum iu 

 general, but the flowers commonly grow very luxuriant, and 

 though often hermaphrodite, are generally observed to be male 

 and female distinct, surrounded by separate involucres, and 

 standing on distinct pedicels within the same calix. The 

 blades of this grass, when flourishing, appear not unlike those 

 of Wheat, only rather longer and broader ; and the stalks, 

 during the first growth, are also much like those of Wheat, 

 but they get weaker and less the oftener the grass is fed upon 

 or cut, till at last it becomes a fine, rich, a-nd entire swath. 

 It appears capable of thriving in any situation, climate, or 

 soil, and can bear the effects of dry or wet weather in a most 

 remarkable manner. In wet weather it may be cut once in a 

 fortnight, and sometimes oftener, when the land is new or fertile. 

 In dry weather it is long before it withers; and, when reduced 

 to such a state as to seem totally destroyed, will revive in a 



