84 Class III. Order II. 



28. PDA. 

 POA PRATENSIS. L. Common spear grass. 



Panicle spreading ; spikelets of four flowers ; 

 glumes lanceolate, five nerved, connected by a 

 web ; stipule short and blunt. Sm. 



Spear grass or meadow grass is found in all situations, con- 

 stituting a considerable portion of the common turf in pastures, 

 road sides, See. Culms leafy, slender, smooth, often stolonife- 

 rous. Leaves spreading, blunt, with obtuse or truncated stip- 

 ules. Panicle large, loose, of horizontal fine branches, bearing 

 many ovate spikelets of about four flowers. June. Perennial. 



This is an excellent and useful grass. 



POA COMPRESS A. L. Blue grass. 



Panicle condensed,, its branches leaning one 

 way ; erect, before and after flowering. Culm as- 

 cending, compressed. Sm. 



Root creeping. Stem decumbent at base, erect above, very 

 much compressed, whence the name. Leaves commonly glau- 

 cous, narrow, with long sheaths. Panicle erect, crowded, tend- 

 ing to one side, obtuse ; its branches short and rough, appres- 

 sed to the stem except at the time of flowering. Spikelets ovate. 

 Florets closely imbricate, varying in number, connected at 

 base by a thin web. Dry grounds. July, August. Perennial. 



POA ANNUA. L. Annual spear grass. 



Panicle divaricated ; spikelets ovate ; florets 

 a little remote, five ribbed, destitute of a web ; 

 stein oblique, compressed. Sm. 



A smaller grass but equally common with the first. It is 

 annual in duration, but rapid in increase, and commonly the first 



