Part 7 - UNC Herbarium

POACEAE 889
Heteropogon Persoon (Tanglehead)
A genus of about 10 species, pantropical and extending into subtropical and warm temperate areas. References: Barkworth in
FNA (2003a).
* Heteropogon melanocarpus (Elliott) Elliott ex Bentham, Sweet Tanglehead. Cp (GA, NC, SC): sandy roadsides, disturbed
areas; rare, probably naturalized from further south (or even from the Old World). September-October. The species is
widespread in the Old World and New World tropics, north in North America to se. NC. [= RAB, FNA, HC, K, S]
Hierochloe R. Brown (Holy Grass, Sweet Grass, Vanilla Grass)
A genus of about 30 species, temperate and boreal in the northern and southern hemispheres. Tucker (1996) and Soreng et al.
(2003) propose the inclusion of Hierochloe into a more broadly circumscribed Anthoxanthum. References: Tucker (1996)=Z;
Soreng et al. (2003)=Y.
Hierochloe odorata (Linnaeus) Palisot de Beauvois, Holy Grass, Sweet Grass, Vanilla Grass. Mt (NC, VA): fens, wet
calcareous medaows, high elevation pastures and openings; rare (NC Rare). April-May. A circumboreal species and subspecies,
widespread in n. Eurasia and n. North America, ranging south in North America to NJ, MD, PA, OH, IN, IL, IA, SD, CO, UT,
NM, and CA, with several disjunct occurrences in North Carolina, in Long Hope Valley, Ashe County, the Nantahala River
Bogs, Macon County, and Pond Mountain, Ashe County. The report by S ("recorded by Chapman from Statesville, N.C.") can
be discounted; the record reflects a collection made in the mountains by Mordecai E. Hyams, a botanist based in Statesville.
Belden et al. (2004) document the first occurrence in Virginia. The sweet, vanilla-like odor of this grass is responsible for
various folk uses – by Native Americans for making fragrant baskets, in Scandinavia strewn on church floors on festival days.
Kartesz (1999) maps the NC occurrence of Hierochloe as H. hirta ssp. arctica; the reasons for this are unknown. {investigate}
[= C, F, G, HC; ? H. odorata ssp. odorata – K; ? H. hirta (Schrank) ssp Borbás ssp. arctica (J. Presl) G. Weimarck – K; Torresia
odorata (Linnaeus) A.S. Hitchcock – S; = Anthoxanthum nitens (Weber) Y. Schouten & Veldkamp – Z; ? Anthoxanthum nitens
(Weber) Y. Schouten & Veldkamp spp. nitens – Y; > H. odorata var. fragrans (Willdenow) Richter (the North American plants)]
References: Tucker (1996)=Z.
Holcus Linnaeus (Velvet Grass, Soft Grass)
1 Plant not rhizomatous; upper culm internodes velvety-villous; lemma awn recurved ............................................... H. lanatus
1 Plant strongly rhizomatous; upper culm internodes glabrous; lemma awn straight ..................................................... H. mollis
* Holcus lanatus Linnaeus, Velvet Grass, Soft Grass, Yorkshire-fog. Mt, Pd (GA, NC, SC, VA), Cp (NC, SC, VA):
pastures, disturbed areas, roadsides, hedge-rows; common (rare in SC), introduced from Europe. May-October. [= RAB, C, F,
G, HC, K, W, Z; = Notholcus lanatus (Linnaeus) Nash – S]
* Holcus mollis Linnaeus, Creeping Soft Grass. Mt (NC): lawns; rare, introduced from Europe. September. This European
species is known from scattered sites in e. North America. The species was documented for our area by Clay (1995). [= C, F, G,
HC, K, Z]
Hordeum Linnaeus 1753 (Barley)
A genus of about 40 species, north temperate and in South America. Many recent authors place most of our species (other than
H. vulgare) in Critesion Rafinesque. References: Tucker (1996)=Z; Petersen & Seberg (2003); Blattner (2004).
1 Rachis remaining intact at maturity; leaves 5-12 mm wide, with well-developed auricles; [section Hordeum] ........ H. vulgare
1 Rachis disarticulating at maturity; leaves 1-5 mm wide, not auriculate (except in H. murinum ssp. leporinum).
2 Perennial; glumes 25-150 mm long; [intersectional hybrid derivative of section Sibirica and section Critesion]..............
..........................................................................................................................................................................H. jubatum
2 Annual; glumes 7-22 (-28) mm long.
3 Leaves auriculate; glumes of the central spikelet (in the triad) with ciliate margins; [section Hordeum] ...................
....................................................................................................................................... H. murinum ssp. leporinum
3 Leaves not auriculate; glumes of the central spikelet (in the triad) with scabrous margins; [section Critesion] .........
................................................................................................................................................................. H. pusillum
* Hordeum jubatum Linnaeus, Foxtail Barley, Squirreltail Barley. Mt, Pd (VA), Cp (NC, SC): disturbed areas; rare,
apparently introduced in our area, introduced from w. United States. May-August. A tetraploid taxon. [= RAB, C, F, G, HC, W,
Z; ? H. jubatum ssp. jubatum – K; = Critesion jubatum (Linnaeus) Nevski]