HOL 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



H O M 



699 



few hours after a slight shower ; so that when so little rain falls 

 as to be of no service to common pastures, this will be fit for 

 use in a few weeks ; and in some situations, not exposed to the 

 sun, it will flourish from occasional dews only. When ready 

 to feed, it is from six to eight feet high, bat it is generally fed 

 on or cut when only three or four. It seems to have reached 

 all parts of the world, and to be every where esteemed for 

 its great usefulness. In the West Indies it is cultivated by 

 making the land perfectly bare by hoeing, and then digging 

 holes from three to five feet distance, according to (he quality 

 of the soil. The holes should be large, and deep enough to 

 bury a few roots of the grass at a good depth. These roots 

 are procured from a neighbouring nursery or field, and the 

 grass being topped within three or four inches, they are pirt 

 into the holes, well covered with earth, and pressed down 

 with the foot: care is taken to keep the plants free from 

 weeds by repeated hoeings. The best months for planting 

 are April and May, for the grass will then seed in September 

 and October, at which time it produces in abundance. The 

 ground must be quite clean when the seed is ready to drop ; 

 and if the spaces between the roots are then stirred by the 

 hoe, it will be found very beneficial. When the seed is all 

 fallen, stock are turned in, to tread it into the ground, and 

 feed upon, the grass, in very rich and new land, the grass 

 at first will grow so rank as to produce very thick stalks, which, 

 by running up the noses of Ihe stock, will prevent them 

 from eating it so close as they otherwise would. When, 

 however, it is eaten as near the ground as possible, the 

 remaining grass, with the roots which were planted, are dug 

 out with the hoe, and burnt off. After this, the grass, if 

 favourable rains come, will grow from the seed, and, by cover- 

 ing the ground, in May following will be perfectly established 

 for several years, according to the quality of the land, to be 

 cut for hay, or to stand for pasture. Whenever the grass 

 grows thin, holes may be opened in such places, and roots 

 again planted to supply it; and, by this attention, a field 

 will scarcely ever be so totally worn out, as to require the 

 labour of entirely replanting it at any one time. If a little 

 care only, be taken of this grass in its infancy, it will soon 

 overcome all other grasses and weeds; and in ground full of 

 stones and rocks, though planted at random, and at great 

 distances, at the soil admits, it will spread itself about them 

 in a few months, and at last entirely cover them. If the stalks 

 of this grass be buried a few inches deep, each joint of it will 

 take root, and grow luxuriantly; or it may be propagated 

 directly from sowing the seed, the ground being previously 

 prepared for that purpose; but the seed will lie many months 

 in the ground before it makes its appearance. Some planters 

 do not stock up the roots which are planted, when the grass 

 has seeded; and others depend uj>on what they afford, by 

 continually feeding or cutting- the grass when at a certain 

 height, without ever suffering it to seed. 



Hollow Root. See Adoxa and Fumctriu. 



Holly. See Ilex. 



Holly, Knee. See Ruscus. 



Holly, Stet. See Eryngium. 



Hollyhock. See Alcea. 



Hotm Oak. See Quercus. 



Holm, Sea. See Eryngrnm. 



Holosteum; a genus of the class Triandria, order Tri- 

 ynia. GESERIC CHARACTER. CaKx: perianth five- 

 leaved ; leaflets ovate, permanent. Corolla: petals five, two- 

 parted, blunt, equal. Stamina : filamenta three, filiform, 

 shorter than the corolla ; antherw roundish. Pistil : germen 

 roundish ; styles three, filiform ; stigmas bluntish. Pericarp: 

 capsule one-celled, subcylindric, gaping at the tip. Seeds : 



very many, roundish. Obterve. In the third species, the petals 

 are subtrifid, less than the calix. In the fifth species the petals 

 are three or two-toothed ; stamina three or five ; styles three 

 or four; capsule six-ralved at th tip. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix: five-leaved. Petals: five. Ctipsule one- 

 celled, subcylindrical, opening at top. The species are, 



1. Holosteum Cordatum ; Heart-leaved Holosteum. Leaves 

 subcordate; stems decumbent, creeping, somewhat rigid at 

 bottom ; peduncles lateral, elongated, ascending, seven- 

 fiowered, one in the middle, and three On each side, from a 

 peduncle farther branched. Native of Jamaica and Suri- 

 nam. In the former it i common, and thrives very luxuri- 

 antly. Browne calls it the Larger American Chickweed, 

 and says that it grows in tufts, and seldom rises above ten 

 or twelve inches from the ground ; that the smaller birds 

 feed much upon the seeds, which are seldom put to any 

 other use, except that large wads of the fresh plant, heated 

 over a gentle fire, are sometimes applied to hard and painful 

 swellings, in order to relax the parts, and dispose the ob- 

 structions to a resolution. 



2. Holosteum Diandrum ; Two-stamined Holosteum. Stems 

 procumbent, very rigid ; leaves roundish ; flowers two-sta- 

 mined; capsule roundish. This plant is very small, seldom 

 rising above six or seven inches from the ground. Annual, 

 and a native of Jamaica. 



3. Holosteum Succulentam ; Succulent Hotostewm. Leaves 

 elliptic, fleshy ; petals white, snbtrifid, smaller than the caKx. 

 Native of New York. 



4. Holosteum Hirsutum ; Hairy Holosteum. Leaves 

 orbiculate, hirsute. Native of Malabar. 



5. Holosteum Umbellatum ; Umbelled Holosteum. Flow- 

 ers umbelled ; root annual, slender, a little branched, fibrous, 

 running perpendicularly down; stems numerous, filiform, 

 jointed, round, perforate, upright, from two or three, to six 

 inches high, having mostly three joints ; the space between 

 the two lowest is smooth, the others for the most part vis- 

 cous and hairy; calix never opening, marked at the base 

 with black dots ; petals white, or blush-coloured tinged on 

 the outside, converging, concealed within the calix, so that 

 the tips only peep out. Villars makes two species of this : 

 1. smooth, with triandrous flowers; 2. hairy, with decandrous 

 flowers. The first smooth, smaller, and greener ; the second 

 very villose, larger, ash-coloured, green all over; the pedun- 

 cles and calices not clammy as in the other, which is more 

 common. Hudson and Withering place it among the 

 Cerastia: whilst Swartz would remove the Alsitie Media, or 

 Common Chickweed, into this genus. It is an annual plant, 

 flowering i-n April and May. Native of Spain, Italy, France, 

 Germany, Switzerland, and England ; where it was first 

 noticed on the walls of Norwich, and also upon walls ancf 

 banks in the neighbourhood : it has also been found near 

 Bury in Suffolk. 



Homalium; a genus of the class Polyandria, order Tri- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix .- perianth one- 

 l-eafed, six or seven cleft; clefts ovate-lanceolate, sharp, 

 spreading very mueh. Corolla: petals six or seven, ovate, 

 flat, a little longer than the calix, spreading very much ; 

 nectary-'gla-nds six or seven, flat, alternate with the petals. 

 Stamina : filamenta eighteen or twenty-eight, subulate, up- 

 right, the length of the corolla, of which three or four are 

 inserted into thfr receptacle among the glands before the 

 base of the petals ; antherse roundish, small. Pistil : germen 

 roundish, villose, immersed in the base of the calix; styles 

 three-, upright ; stigmas simple. Pericarp: capsule woody, 

 ovate, one-celled. Seeds : very many, and very small. ESSEN- 

 TIAL CHARACTER. Calif: six or seven parted. Corolla: 



