HOW TO KNOW THE GRASSES 



119a. Panicles very open, the branches slender, spreading, usually in 

 pairs, bearing spikelets only near their outer ends; lemmas with 

 conspicuous long hairs on their keels; eastern forested half of the 

 U. S., to Michigan and Texas. Fig. 152. 



Poa autuznnalis Muhl. 



Perennial; tufted; plants delicate, 30 — 60 

 cm. tall; panicles 10 — 20 cm. long and nearly 

 as wide, their branches very slender, bearing 

 a few spikelets near the tips. Leaf blades 2 

 — 3 mm. wide, many at the base of the plants. 

 The plants are not, as the name would seem 

 to indicate, autumn blooming. Moist wood- 

 lands. June. 



Figure 152 



119b. Panicles usually dense, the branches bearing spikelets nearly to 

 their bases; nerves of lemmas not bearing long hairs; western 

 states, eastward to Minnesota and to the Dakotas. Fig. 153. 



Poa scabrella (Thurb.) Benth. 



Perennial; tufted; culms 50 — 100 cm. tall; 

 pcrnicles slender, elongated, with ascending 

 branches. This species and its relatives 

 have lemmas covered, at least near their 

 bases, with short crimped or oppressed 

 hairs. A number of very closely related 

 species or forms exist in this group, differ- 

 ing mostly in the shape of the panicle. All 

 are bunch grasses of the western states 

 and are valuable forage grasses at lower 

 and medium altitudes. March — August. 



Figure 153 



81 



