108 HIEROCHIOE. [class HI. ORDER n. 



Habitat. — Frequent in the mountainous districts in the North of 

 England and in Scotland ; plentiful at Settle, on the moors, and lime- 

 stone districts in Yorkshire and Derbyshu-e. 



Perennial ; flowering in April and June. 



This grass appears to be a favourite food of sheep, and is one of the 

 superior alpine grasses, as containing a considerable proportion of nutri- 

 tive matter ; it is an early spring grass,but the quantity of herbage which 

 it produces is inconsiderable, and its growth, after being cropped, is 

 very slow. Jt appears to possess no other properties by which it can 

 be cultivated with advantage in other than its natural place of growth, 

 but in such situations it is one of the best and most nutritious grasses. 



GENUS XXXIII. HIERO'CHLOE. Gmelin. Holy-grass. 



Gen. Char, Panicleloose. G/wmes two, nearly equal, three-flowered, 

 the two lateral florets neuter, each containing three stamens ; the ter- 

 minal one perfect, containing two stamens and pistils. Glumelles 

 nearly equal, with or without an awn. Fruit free. — Name from 

 " n^oc, sacred, X'^5% or yj^o-n, a grass, so called, because in some parts 

 of the Prussian dominions it is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and 

 strewed before the doors of the churches on festival days, as the 

 Srveet-Jlag ( Acorus Calamus) is in England." 



1. H. borea'lis, Reom et Schult, (Fig. 135.) northern Holy-grass. 

 Panicle nearly erect, somewhat unilateral, flower stalks smooth, 

 florets awnless, roughish ; outer valve ciliated on the margin, leaves 

 flat. 



English Botany, Supplement, t. 2641. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 110. 

 Lindley, Synopsis, p. .306. — Hooker. British Flora, vol. i. p. 42. — Hol'cus 

 odora'tus, Linn. Sinclair, Hort. Gram. Woburn. p. 167. 



Root fibrous, the plant rapidly extending itself by numerous nnder- 

 ground steins. Flowering stems from twelve to eighteen inches high, 

 erect, round, smooth, striated, leafy in the lower part, naked above. 

 Leaves linear, with a long narrow point, smooth, finely striated, rough 

 on the edges, beneath shining bright green, paler above, and somelimes 

 slightly downy, those of the stem very short. Sheaths long, close, 

 smooth, ribbed. Ligula broad, acute, torn or jagged on the edge. 

 Inflorescence an erect or slightly drooping smooth branched spreading 

 panicle. Spikelets three-flowered. Glumes two, nearly equal, smooth 

 and shining, ovate, broadly pointed, membranous, a little longer than 

 the florets, sometimes jagged or seriated towards the apex. Florets 

 three, on short stalks, the lateral ones neuter (male flowers) having three 

 stamens, (triandrous) pistils wanting, the central or terminal flower 

 smallcbt, perfect, but with only iico stamens (diandrous) and pistils. 

 Glumelles unequal, the outer valve largest, of a firm almost cartilaginous 



