NY 
POA LAXA AND POA STRICTA. 427 
specimens which occurs of Deschampsia alpina were all vivi- 
parous, and D. cespitosa, Festuca ovina and F. rubra were also 
in that condition. 
I found in this gully that when acuwtifolia grew in very 
complete shade the size of the panicle was much enlarged, 
owing to the lengthening of the panicle-branches ; but when it 
grew on ledges more exposed to the sun and wind the panicle 
became more oblong from the shortening of its branches, and the 
leaves became shorter and broader, but they always remained 
acute and not hooded, and in all cases the upper leaf was well 
above the middle of the stem. In very shady situations the 
plant does not exhibit that compact mass of persistent leat- 
sheaths which is so characteristic of P. alpina, but, as Syme says, 
when P. alpina is cultivated they often disappear ; and it may be 
that the dense moss vegetation in which acutifolia often grows 
may be inimical to their presence, or may induce a more rapid 
decay. 
Syme says he has also seen P. stricta [var. acutifolia} growing 
with P. lava on the screes which are in full exposure, and 
that even there it remains viviparous. I was, however, unable 
to observe it in such situations; but the specimens noticed by 
Syme may have been carried down from the cliffs by the falling 
of rock-ledges or by storms of rain, or possibly were directly due 
to the falling of the bulbils from the rock above. 
Poa axa, Haenke, in Jirasek, Beob. Riesengeb. (1791) 
p- 118, var. scorica. 
P. minor, Bab. Man. ed. 2, p. 889 (1847), not of Gaudin. 
P. flexuosa, Sm. ex Syme, xi. p. 116 in syn., not of Smith or 
Wahl. 
P. eu-laxa, Syme, E. B. xi. p. 116, t. 1764. 
P. laxa, var. minor, Hook. f. Stud. FI. p. 414 (1870). 
P. lava proper, Hook. Stud. Fl. p. 492 (1884). 
Fie. Syme, |. c., t. 1764. 
Hab. Screes on the northern and eastern side of Lochnagar ; 
north slopes of Cairntoul (Syme), alt. 2500-3000 feet. 
I have made a careful study of this plant with a large series 
of Continental specimens, and have no hesitation in referring it 
to Haenke’s species, and in this Professor Hackel fully concurs ; 
but I think I see in the Scottish specimens certain characters 
which induce me to distinguish it by a varietal name, and in 
