HOLCUS 



HOLLYHOCK 



1497 



Andropogon. It seems best, however, to restore the 

 Linnsean name. They are important fodder grasses. 



The genus differs from Andropogon in having spike- 

 lets in 3's in an open or contracted panicle. The various 

 cult, varieties known as sorghum or sorgo, broom- 

 corn, Jerusalem corn, milo maize or milo, durra, and 

 so on, are considered by some botanists to have been 

 derived from the wild species, H. halepensis, Linn. 

 (Andropogon halepensis, Brot. Sorghum halepense, 

 Pers.). Others maintain these cult, forms as varieties 

 of a distinct species, H . Sorghum, Linn. (Andropogon 

 Sorghum, Brot. Sorghum vulgdre, Pers.). The cult, 

 forms are annuals, with tall jointed sts. bearing large 

 terminal panicles. Depending upon their uses, they 

 fall naturally into 3 groups: (1) Broom-corn, in which 

 the branches of the panicle are elongated and are thus 

 adapted to the manufacture of brooms; (2) the sugar 

 or saccharine sorghums, having loose panicles, with 

 drooping branches and red-brown spikelets, cult, for 

 the sweet juice and for forage. Amber and Orange are 

 leading forms of sugar sorghum. (3) The remaining 

 varieties are grouped together as non-saccharine sor- 

 ghums. They are grown for forage and for the seed. 

 Gn. 4, p. 83 (as S. tricolor). The common forms grown in 

 this country and offered in the trade are: Kafir corn, 

 with sts. 4-5 ft. high, stocky growth, and dense, 

 upright panicles; milo or milo maize, or African millet, 

 similar but about twice as tall; durra (variously spelled 

 doura, dhoura, and so on), including Egyptian rice 

 corn, and Guinea corn, with compact panicles on an 

 often recurved stalk. The wild species, H . halepensis, 

 Linn., JOHNSON-GRASS, has a large open panicle of 

 smaller spikelets. Gn. 13, p. 305. Dept. Agric., Div. 

 Agrost. 14:12. It is a perennial, spreading by stout 

 rhizomes and very difficult to eradicate from cult, 

 ground. For history of sorghums see Dept. Agric. 

 Bur. PL Ind. Bull. No. 175 (1910) and Bur. PL Ind. 

 Circ. No. 50 (1910). Sudan-grass and Tunis-grass are 

 varieties of sorghum that resemble Johnson-grass in 

 aspect but are annuals devoid of rootstocks. They 

 have recently been intro. in the U. S. and give prom- 

 ise of value as forage plants in the southern states. 

 See "Some New Grasses for the South," Yearbook 

 U. S. Dept. Agric., 1912. 



H. Zand<u S =Notholcu S lanatus. A g> HlTCHCOCK. 



HOLLY: Ilex. 



HOLLYHOCK (Althaea rosea, which see). Figs. 1844, 

 1845. The hollyhock is one of the very oldest of culti- 

 vated flowers and is today an inhabitant of most gar- 

 dens, and is known by its common name not only to all 

 cultivators of plants but even to school-children. Its 

 showy blossoms in July after the larger number of 

 plants have ceased flowering has much helped to make 

 it known to all, while its history, its place in poetry 

 and folk-lore, and its associations in the past drama of 

 the world have been forgotten or vaguely remembered. 

 Its beauty causes its cultivation today. 



The hollyhock is a native of China, botanically 

 described as a biennial and evidently a cultivated plant 

 in China when first brought to the attention of Euro- 

 pean cultivators, since it is said to have been "of many 

 colors and forms." Very probably its colors in a wild 

 state, as now often seen in mixed retrograde seedlings, 

 were rose-pink tending to red and white. The real reds 

 and the present deep maroon shades would naturally 

 be obtained rather easily by selection. The yellow color 

 is, in the opinion of some, a much later acquired one, 

 and the least liable to come true from seed. 



The dpubleness of the flower has undoubtedly been 

 an acquired character under cultivation. The holly- 

 hock has been propagated almost entirely from selected 

 seed for so many years that both in color and double- 

 ness it comes true from seed which has not been cross- 

 fertilized with other colors or forms. 



The bees delight in the plentiful pollen of the holly- 



hock so that in a mixed group of plants the seed will 

 be indiscriminately crossed, and naturally a few poor 

 single-flowered plants may affect the seed from a whole 

 group. The color of the flower is, however, much 

 influenced by the seed-bearing parent. The pollen on 

 the hollyhock is so plentiful that the bee soon gets a 

 load and goes home, in many cases not having visited 

 more than one plant. For this reason a short distance 

 between groups, especially if separated by some barrier, 

 very much prevents cross-fertilization. Purchased seed 

 comes about 75 per cent true to color and possibly 40 

 per cent fairly double. 



The hollyhock, while called 

 in botanical history a bien- 

 nial, is at least a short-lived 

 perennial. Its heavy type of 

 root with very short stolons or 

 rather side crown-buds at the 

 head of the root-system would 

 naturally lead to its description 

 as a biennial. It belongs, be- 

 cause of its root-system, to a 

 horticultural class of plants, 

 which, while truly perennial 

 under proper conditions become 

 biennial or even annual under 

 other circumstances . Other 

 plants haying very similar 

 root-formations are the dande- 

 lion, digitalis, aquilegia, platy- 

 codon and delphinium. These 

 are more or less short-lived 

 perennials since their perma- 

 nency depends on the preserva- 

 tion of an easily de- 

 stroyed crown-bud or 

 rather the head of the 

 root-system. Heaving 

 of the plant by frost 

 exposes the main root- 

 stem below the side 

 buds and causes the 

 plant to die after flow- 

 ering. In like manner 

 the removal of soil 

 from about the plants, 

 as by rains, shortens 

 the life by exposing the 

 root below its natural 

 level with the soil. 

 The seed of the holly- 

 hock, as well as the 

 other genera mentioned 

 with this root-system, 

 germinate very quickly 

 five to ten days. 



Hollyhock seeds sown in the greenhouse or frame 

 during March or earlier and given plenty of root-room 

 will flower the first year from seed although somewhat 

 later than established plants. Plants grown as above 

 in pots are likely to show less perennial character of the 

 root and are more liable to disease. The seed should 

 be sown outdoors during June or July in soil with suffi- 

 cient clay and surface soil-water to cause the seedlings 

 to form a system of strong side tap-roots, rather than 

 one or two main roots as will occur in too sandy or dry 

 soil, or on the other hand too many fibrous surface- 

 roots as when grown in pots or in a too-wet soil. 



Plants from outdoor spring- or early summer-sown 

 seed should be moved to their permanent positions early 

 the following spring, care being taken to dig the plant 

 with all the main roots, and in planting to place these 

 roots in a natural position, i.e., pointing downward. 

 The crown of the plant should be a little below the 

 surface of the ground (this is important) . Fall planting, 

 with the heaving by frost, especially of tap-rooted 



K 



~V 



1844. The hollyhock. 



