HOLCUS, in botany, a genus of the Polygamia Monoecia class and order. Na tural order of Gramina or Grasses. Es. sential character:. hermaphrodite, calyx glume, one or two-flowered : corolla glume, awned; stamina three ; styles two : seed one : male, calyx glume, two valved ; corolla none; stamina three.— There are fifteen species. One of these, the Holcus bicolor, is cultivated in some parts of the United States, for making a kind of beverage as a substitute for cho colate. The following account of this spe cies we take from a paper written by the Professor of Botany in the University of Pennsylvania, and published by order of the Philadelphia Linnxan Society: Some account of the Ifolcus Bicolor, read to the Philadelphia Dinmean Society, by the president, Professor Barton.
During a late visit to Lancastsr, I learn ed that the German inhabitants of the Manor, in the county of Lancaster, near the Susquehanna, cultivated a plant, from the seeds of which they made a kind of beverage, resembling, in colour, taste, and nutritious qualities, common choco late. The first accounts I had of this he. verage were received from Dr. Eberle, and William Barton, esquire, of Lancas ter. The latter informed me, he had
drank it once or twice, and that a mem ber of his family had breakfasted on it, supposing it to be chocolate, without per zeiving the deception.
From the information I received, re specting the stature, growth, and habit, of the plant, I supposed that it was a spe cies of Sorghum. Learning, however, that a quantity of the plant was growing in a neighbouring garden, I procured a few specimens of it, together with a quantity of the seeds, then sufficiently ripe for use. I found the plant belonging to the genus Holcus, but having no books with me by which I could ascertain the precise spe cies, I brought the specimens to Philadel phia, and after carefUlly comparing them with the descriptions of the different spe cies of Ho/cm in Willdenow's work, I find that it is the !bleu& bicolor of that author, and was known to Linnaeus.—(Vide Man tissa; 301.) The generic character of Holcus, ac, cording to the Gen. Plant. is asfollows:— Holcus. HERMAPH. Cal. Gluma 1-sive 2 flora. Cor. Gluma sub apice aristata. Stain. 3. Styli 2. Sem. 1.