Phalaris. GRAMINEtE. 419 



2. Phalaris Canariensis, Linn. Common Canary Grass. 



Panicle spike-like, oval ; glumes boat-shaped, entire at the point ; palem hairy ; glumes of 

 the abortive flowers smooth. — Linn. sp. 1. p. 54 ; Erigl. bot. t. 1310 ; Torr. fl. 1. p. 100 ; 

 Trin. gram. Pan. p. 254 ; Kunth, enum. 1. p. 31. 



Annual. Culm H - 2 feet high, simple, smooth. Leaves 4-5 lines wide, pale green and 

 glaucous ; the sheaths somewhat inflated. Glumes nearly twice as long as the pales, yellowish 

 green, strongly keeled. Palea; smooth, lanceolate, acute. Abortive flowers very small, entire. 

 Caryopsis ovate, invested with the hardened shining paleae. 



Waste places, and about habitations : introduced from Europe. Fl. July - September. 



6. HOLCUS. Linn. ; Endl. gen. 754. SOFT-GRASS. 



[ Said to be from Jwlko, to extract ; because of its supposed virtue in drawing out thorns.] 



Spikelets 2-flowered, polygamous. Glumes membranaceous, somewhat boat-shaped, mucro- 

 naie. Lower flower perfect, awnless : upper one staminate or neuter, pedicellate ; the 

 lower palea awned on the back above the middle. — Panicle contracted. 



1. HoLcus lanatus, Linn. Meadoio Soft-grass. 



Panicle equal ; flowers shorter than the rather obtuse mucronate glumes, upper one with a 

 curved awn ; root fibrous. — Linn. sp. 2. p. 1047 ; Engl. bot. t. 1 170 ; Muhl. gram. p. 274 ; 

 Torr. Jl.l. p. \5l; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 44 ; Beck, bot. p. 404 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 91 ; 

 Kunth, enum. 1. p. 35. 



Whole plant clothed with a soft whitish down. Root perennial. Culm 1-2 feet high. 

 Leaves flat, 3-5 lines wide ; the ligule short and truncate. Panicle more or less contracted. 

 Glumes whitish or tinged with purple, pubescent, ciliate on the keel. Flowers pedicellate. 

 Paleae smooth and shining ; the lower one keeled. Awn of the staminate flower curved or 

 hooked. 



Moist meadows : frequent. Fl. June. Introduced from Europe, and now thoroughly 

 naturalized in many places. A grass of but little value. 



7. HIEROCHLOA. Gmel. boly-grass. 



[ From the Greek, hieros, sacred, and chJoa, grass ; because, in Prussia, it is used in certain religious festivals.] 



Spikelets 3-flowered : the two lower flowers staminate, triandrous and mostly awned ; the 

 uppermost one perfect, diandrous, awnless. — Smooth perennial grasses, having the odor of 

 vanilla. Flowers in open or contracted panicles : spikelets pedicellate. 



1. Hierochloa borealis, Rce7n. 8)- Schult. Seneca Grass. Vanilla Grass. 



Panicle somewhat one-sided, a little spreading ; peduncles smooth ; perfect flower pointless; 



53* 



