591 



&i)t EreKiuvv at Botany. 



[horm 



almost any other variety of cereal ; but , 

 which wild species is the true parent of 

 the cultivated form is a matter involved in ! 

 obscurity, though in all probability one of j 

 the wild forms of the more temperate parts 

 of India may be made to yield a good grain 

 by cultivation. The genus may be dfstin- | 

 guished by its spikelets being in threes | 

 arranged on opposite sides of the rachis, 

 hence forming a bilateral spike. 



The species consist of— 1. Cereal Barleys : 

 H. hexastichum, the six-rowed, in which all 

 three flowers of the spikelets are perfect 

 and fertile ; H. distichum, the two-rowed, 

 in which only the central floret is fertile, 

 and the two lateral abortive. 2. Wild 

 Barleys : S. murinum, pratense, and mariti- 

 mum. 



Of the many varieties of cultivated 

 Barley, those known as distichous or two- 

 rowed Barley are those more commonly 

 cultivated, for in them the seed is tolera- 

 bly uniform in size, and so a better sample 

 is produced, and we believe that it is even 

 more productive than the six-rowed form. 

 This latter, however, is frequently at- 

 tempted to be employed in farming ; but as 

 the lateral florets are seldom so plump as 

 the central one, a very uneven sample is 

 the result. This is one of the causes of the 

 I greater coarseness of the varieties of the 

 six-rowed barley when compared with the 

 two-rowed— a fact perhaps more observable 

 in the black variety than in any other. 



In this group we must notice a naked 

 six-rowed variety, the grain of which sepa- 

 i rates from the chaff scales after the manner 

 : of wheat : the difference being that in ordi- 

 ; nary barley we have the grain + the chaff 

 i scales, which adhere and form what is 

 usually called the skin of the barley, which 

 ! is described as coarse or fine according to 

 I its degree of thickness ; whilst in the naked 

 j barley we have the grain — the chaff scales. 

 I This latter is not a good malting kind, and '. 

 ! therefore,;though interesting from a bota- 

 j meal point of view, is never likely to be- 

 I come extensively cultivated. 



Of the Meadow Barleys, H. pratense only j 



| is of any importance. Its herbace is sweet | 



and nutritious, and when the field is con- j 



stantly depastured it is an exceedingly i 



good species to encourage ; but its long 



awns, rough as they are with little spi- 



cula? or projections for their whole length, 



render them highly prejudicial in hay, for 



being very brittle they readily break up 



into small lengths which stick beneath the 



tongue or in the gums, the spiculso acting 



like barbs in preventing their removal, and ! 



so creating great irritation, swelling of the ! 



mouth, and inability to eat, which often j 



result in serious derangements to the 



animals partaking of it. This effect would 



: be even more conspicuous if the Wall Bar- j 



I ley, H. murinum, formed part of a meadow, , 



but it particularly affects old walls and 



I waste places. Still, however, it not unfre- I 



I Quently occurs in waste corners of sandy \ 



j fields, and when this is so the contents of j 



: such spots should never be included in the 



hay-rick. Weallrememberhowin our youth 



i we put inverted spikes of the Wall Barley 



up our sleeves and found them travel to 

 our shoulders, where they were difficult to 

 dislodge without disarranging them. This 

 was caused by the parts of the spikelets 

 being compressible, so that by a gentle 

 motion they progressed upwards with a 

 kind of spring ; but the spicule or barbs, on 

 pulling the spike the contrary way, stuck 

 into the clothes, and so it could not easily 

 be dislodged from its position. 



Both the Wall and the Seaside Barleys 

 are denizens of sandy soils— the former 

 everywhere, the latter on the seashore. 

 The Wall Barley is thus a remarkable agra- 

 rian indicator of the nature of land. On 

 the sands of the tertiaries it is a common 

 weed, so on the more sandy deposits of the 

 new and old red sandstones. A curious 

 instance of the partiality of this grass for 

 sand occurs in the Cotswold hills; these 

 are composed of oolitic freestones and 

 chalk, both calcareous rocks.and there, as in 

 the clays of the Oxford clay and lias, it is 

 universally absent ; but in the lias hollows 

 of the valley of the Severn, as at Gloucester 

 and Cheltenham in the former county, and 

 Bredon in the latter, where are thick beds 

 of sand varying to as much as thirty feet 

 in depth, the wall barley so abounds, as 

 to become a most exact indicator of the 

 boundary lines of the arenaceous deposit. 

 See Critho. [J. BJ 



HOREHOUND. Marrubium vulgare. — , 

 BLACK. Ballota nigra. — , STINKING. 

 Ballota. — , WATER.. Lycopus. — , 

 WHITE. Marrubium. —, WILD. Eapa- 

 toriuvi teucrifoUum. 



HORESTRANG. Peucedanum officinale. 



HORKELIA. Agenusoftherosefamily 

 peculiar to Oregon and California, and 

 numbering about a dozen species. They 

 are perennial herbs one to two feet high, 

 with pinnatifid root-leaves, the stems ter- 

 minating in crowded cymes of minute 

 white or pink flowers. From Potentilla 

 they differ in the small flowers, and in the 

 definite number of stamens (ten in two 

 series). [A. A. B.] 



HORMIDIUM. A section of the genus 

 Epidendrum. 



HORMIN. (Fr.) Salvia Horminum. 



HORMINUM. A small genus of labiate 

 plants. The calyx is bell-shaped and two- 

 lipped, the upper lip with three teeth, the 

 lower with two ; the tube of the corolla 

 much longer than the calyx, and the corolla 

 itself imperfectly two-lipped, the upper 

 lip being very short and notched, the 

 lower three-lobed. The anthers cohere in 

 pairs. H. pyrenaicum is a tufted perennial 

 herb, with numerous root-leaves, simple 

 almost leafless stems, and purplish-blue 

 flowers which grow in whorls of six, all 

 turned the same way. It isanativeof the 

 temperate parts of Europe,on the moun- 

 tains. [C. A. J.] 



HORMOGYNE. A name applied to an 

 Australian shrub belonging to the order 

 Sapotacece. It may be recognised by the 

 anthers, all of which burst inwardly"; and 



