TRIANDRIA— DIGYNIA. Holcus. 107 



little zigzag. Fl. smaller, and far more numerous, than the last, 

 shining with purple, green, and white. 

 The whole plant is soon dried up, and can yield nothing but a little 

 early food for sheep. 



40. HOLCUS. Soft-grass. " 



S7n. in Rees's Cycl. v. 18. Fl. Br. 88. Schrad. Germ. v. 1. 247, 

 sect. 1. Leers t. 7 -f- 6, 7. 



Cal. of 2 unequal, keeled, ribless, awnless valves, containing 

 a spikelet of 2 Jlorets ; one of them perfect ; the other 

 with an abortive germen. Cor. of 2 unequal valves ; the 

 larger ovate, keeled, awned at the back in one or both 

 florets, the wwri incurved ; smaller much narrower, awn- 

 less. Nect. a cloven, smooth, membranous, scale. Filam. 

 3 in each floret. Antli. notched at each end. Styles short, 

 widely spreading. Siigm. large, feathery. Seed coated 

 with the hardened permanent corolla. 



Hoot perermial. Stem erect, leafy. Fl. panicled, numerous. 



I concur with my learned friend Mr. Brown in separating 

 from this genus the Sorghum of old authors, whose cha- 

 racters I have given under that article in Rees's Cyclo- 

 jxjcdia. Linnaeus combined that and other things, under 

 his Holcus, a name retained by Mr. Brown for the genus 

 Sorghum ; the only point in which we differ. 



1. H. lanatus. Meadow Soft-grass. 



Calyx woolly. Lower floret perfect, awnless ; upper with 

 an arched awn. Leaves downy on both sides. Root fi- 

 brous. 



Holcus lanatus. Linn. Sp. PI. 1485. Willd. v. 4. 933. Fl. Br. 89. 



Engl. Bot. V.17. t.liaO. Curt. Lond.fasc. 4.t.]l. Knapp t. 37. 



Sind. 41. Hook. Scot. 28. Schrad. Germ. v. 1. 25 J. Leers 219. 



t. 7. /. 6. Host Gram. t). 1. 2. t. 2. Schreb. Gram. v. 1. 145. 



t.20.f. 1. 

 Avenan. 1484. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 229. 

 Gramen pratense paniculatum moUe. Bank. Theatr.27 -f. Prodr. 



3.f. Scheuchz. Agr. 234. t. A.f. 24, A, B. 

 G. miliaceum pratense moUe. Rail Syn. 404. 



Abundant in meadows and pastures. 



Perennial. June, July. 



Root tufted, not creeping. Stems erect, simple, l-J or 2 feet high ; 

 smooth above ; clothed in the lower part with soft deflexed 

 hairs, as are also the sheaths of the no less soft and downy 

 leaves. Stipula short and blunt. Panicle thrice compound, erect. 



