594 GRAMINE^. [HolcUS. 



XVI. HoLcus, Hnn. Soft-grass. 



" Panicle lax. Spikelets laterally compressed, 2-flowered. 

 Glumes 3. Lower floret perfect, triandrous : glumeUas 2 ; outer 

 one awnless or very rarely awned. Caryopsis covered by the 

 indurated glumellas." — Br. Fl. 



1. H. lanatus, L. Meadow Soft-grass. " Glumes rather ob- 

 tuse mucronate, awn of barren floret included within the glumes 

 at length curved glabrous except near the end, no tuft of hairs at 

 the joints, root fibrous."— ^r. Fl. p. 530. E. B. t. 1169. Host. 

 Gram. Aust. i. p. 2, t. 3. 



In meadows, pastures, woods, and about hedges ; everywliere. Fl. June, July. 



^- 



Florets sunoimded liy 4 or 5 simple bristles at their base, which rise to half the 



height of the floret, or sometimes even surpass it. 



It cannot be said that there is no tuft of hairs at the joints of the stem in H. 

 lanalus, ihe pubescence in that part being visibly more copious, though a less pro- 

 minent feature than in H. mollis, because it is contrasted with the want of down 

 on the parts immediately contiguous. 



2. H. mollis, L. Creeping-rooted Soft-grass. " Glumes acu- 

 minate, awn of the barren floret exserted at length geniculate sca- 

 brous all over, joints of the culm with a tuft of hairs, root creep- 

 ing."— Br. Fl. p. 529. E. B. t. 1170. Host Gram. Aust. i. p. 3, 

 t. 8. 



|8. Sheaths villous. 



In woods, meadows and pastures ; less frequent than the preceding. Fl. July. 



n- 



fi. Hedge opposite Cherrygin cottages, near Byde, 1850, Dr. Bell-Sailer !! In 

 this specimen, though the sheaths were very hairy, the tuft at the nodes, so cha- 

 racteristic of the species, was very apparent. 



Florets, especially the uppermost imperfect ones, seated in a rather copious 

 fascicle of white hairs, scarcely ^th the length of the glumes. 



XVII. Arrhenatheeum, P. de Beauv. False Oat-grass. 



" Panicle lax. Spikelets laterally compressed, 2-flowered, with 

 an upper rudimentarj' neuter one. Glu7nes 2, nearly equal, mem- 

 branaceous, as long as the florets. Loiver floret barren, trian- 

 drous : glumellas 2 ; outer one with a long twisted geniculate awn 

 above the base. Upper Jloret perfect, triandrous : glumiellas 2 ; 

 outer one with a short straight bristle below the point." — Br. Fl. 



1. A. avenaceum, Beauv. False Oat-grass. " Leaves fiat." — 

 Br. Fl. p. 530. Avena elatior, L. Holcus avenaceus, Scop. 

 E. B. t. 813. Host. Gram. Aust. ii. 36, t. 49. 



i3. butbosum (V eel. Knot-grass). Culms bulbous at base. A. bulbosum. Host. 

 Gram. Aust. iv. 18, t. 30. 



A very common grass in meadows, tbiclcets, hedges, and on banks by roadsides, 

 &c. Fl. June, July. !(.. 



This species once obtained a partial and transient reputation in the United 

 States for arliiicial pasture, under the aspiring name of Grass of the Andes : some 

 of the American farmers have reported favourably of it, from its power of resisting 



