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CHAP. 63.—HOLCUS OR ARISTIS.

Holcus1 is a plant that grows in arid, stony, spots: it has an ear at the end of a fine stem, and looks like barley that has put forth again when cut. Attached to the head or around the arm, it extracts2 spikes of corn adhering to the flesh; for which reason, some persons give it the name of "aristis."

1 Identified with the Hordeum murinum of Linnæus, and the same, most probably, as the Mouse barley of B. xxii. c. 65.

2 Whence its name, from the Greek ,ἔλκω, "to draw."

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