Order GRAMINE^E. 



2. HIEROCHLOE ALPINA. 



THE HOLY GRASS. 



(Plate VII.) 



HIEROCHLOE BOREALIS, Schrceder. HOLCUS ODORATUS, Linnseus. 

 HIEROCHLOE ODORATA, Koch. HIEROCHLOE FRASERI, Hook. fil. Fl. 

 Ant. I., 93. HIEROCHLOE REDOLENS, R. Brown, var. Fraseri, Benth. 

 Fl. Austral. VII., 559. HIEROCHLOE BOREALIS, Roem. and Schultes. 

 Hook, fil., N.Z., I., 300 ; Fl. Tasm., II., 108. HIEROCHLOE ALPINA, 

 Roem. and Schultes. Hook, fil., Handb. N.Z. Flora., I., 322. 



A SLENDER sub-alpine grass, ascending to 3,500 feet Flowers 

 December February. Perennial. Roots fibrous, creeping. Stems 

 i 2 feet high. Leaves 4 8 inches long, smooth, flat ; ligule long or 

 short, obtuse, serrate. Panicle ovate, 2 4 inches long, branches few, 

 capillary. Spikelets i-inch long and broad, shining. Empty glumes 

 large, acute or slightly obtuse, 3-nerved. Flowering glume pubescent, 

 margins long-ciliate, 5-nerved ; awn variable in length and position, 

 usually inserted above the middle in the staminiferous, and in the fertile 

 floret very short and terminal. Palea obtuse, 2-nerved in the staminiferous 

 florets, and 1-nerved in the fertile. Scales narrow-lanceolate, ciliate and 

 bifid at top, and often united as one by the lower margins on one side 

 only. Stamens 3. Anthers long. Ovary glabrous, narrow, acute. 

 Styles short, connate at the base. Stigmas penicillate. Grain oblong- 

 ovate, narrowed at both ends. DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES : SCOTLAND, 

 NORWAY, SWEDEN, LAPLAND, ICELAND, ITALY, FRANCE, 

 GERMANY, KAMTSCHATKA, ALASKA, AUSTRALIA, TAS- 

 MANIA, NEW ZEALAND. 



This species, according to Sir J. Hooker, is identical with H. borealis, or the 

 " Holy Grass " of the Northern Hemisphere. It is very sweet scented, the odour 

 being very similar to that of the previous species Much historical interest is 

 attached to this species in some parts of Europe, from a long-prevailing custom of 

 strewing it before churches on certain festivals. In Sweden it is hung over beds, 



