Oil Guinea Grass. 187 



October) as green as it was in June, and animals are 

 remarkably fond of it, both green and dry. The hay 

 is excellent, and cures without difficulty. 



Joseph B. Oglesby. 



Of Jefferson Co, Kentucky. 



Guinea grass, according to Browne, is a species of 

 Holcus, the characters of which, he says, agree pretty 

 well with those of Panicum in general, but the flowers 

 commonly grow very luxuriant, and though often her- 

 maphrodite, are generally observed to be male and 

 female, distinct, surrounded by separate involucres, 

 and standing on distinct pedicels, within the same calyx, 

 — See Browne's Civil and Natural History of Jamaica. 

 Folio, page 366. London, 1756. 



Dr. Martyn treats of it under the genera Holcus and 

 Panicum. 



Mr. Correa de Serra informs me, that in " the bo- 

 tanic garden at Paris, where Guinea grass has been 

 with great care cultivated by Mr. Thouin, it is known 

 by the name of Panicum altissimum, and it is very 

 probable, that the frequent abortion of either of the 

 sexes, in a great number of flowers, was the reason why 

 Browne, and other scrupulous and literal Linnean bo- 

 tanists, put it in the genus Holcus, notwithstanding all 

 its characters were of Panicum.'*^ Dr. Martyn de- 

 scribes it among the panicums, under the name of Pa- 

 nicum maximum, in the following words : 



Panicum maximum. Culms from five to ten feet 

 high ; upright, simple, even. Leaves lanceolate, to- 

 wards the top convolute and sharp, smooth, except at the 



