m TRIANDRIA— DIGYNIA. Poa. 



2. P. alpina. Alpine Meadow-grass. 



Panicle loosely spreading. Spikelets heart-shaped, four- 



or five-flowered. Florets rather sickle-shaped, hairy at 



the base, without a web. Lower stipulas very short ; 



upper oblong, acute. 

 P. alpina. Linn. Sp. PZ. 99. mild. v. 1. 386. Fl. Br. 100. Engl. 



Bot. v. 14. t. 1003. Knapp t.50. and t. 117. Light/. 96. Hook. 



Scot.3-\. Schrad. Germ. v. 1 . 292. Host Gram. v. 2. 49. t. 67. 



Wahlenb.Lapp.39. 

 P. n. 1456. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 220. 

 Gramen alpinum paniculatum majus, panicula speeiosa variegata. 



Scheuchz. Agr. 186. Prodr. 20. t. 3. 

 /3. Fl. Dan. t. 807, fl. viviparous. 

 Gramen alpinum latifolium, panicula laxa foliacea, &c. Scheuchz. 



Agr. 212. t.4.f. 14. 



On lofty mountains. 



Common in the Highlands of Scotland. Hooker. On Corbie Craig 

 near the river Esk, 5 miles from Forfar. Mr. G. Don. The late 

 Mr. J. T. Mackay sent it from the place last mentioned, as well 

 as from Ben Lawers, and other mountains of Breadalbane, chiefly 

 in a viviparous state. 



Perennial. July, August. 



Root fibrous, tufted/ not creeping. Stem 4 — 12 inches high, erect, 

 the lower joint only being sometimes bent; leafy below ; naked, 

 round, striated, and smooth at the top, with frequently a tinge 

 of purple. Leaves linear, rather broad, fiat, many-ribbed, bluntish 

 with a small point, rough at the edges and sometimes on the 

 upper side j a little glaucous beneath : radical ones numerous, 

 tufted, some of them narrower, spreading, with smooth lax 

 sheaths, and short blunt stipulas ; those of the stem having much 

 longer sheaths, each crowned with a lanceolate, often torn, sti- 

 pula. Panicle spreading, short, somewhat ovate, or triangular, 

 its branches angular, wavy, nearly smooth, mostly in pairs, re- 

 peatedly subdivided. Spikelets so broad as to be often almost 

 heart-shaped, usually of 4 florets, in cultivated specimens of 6. 

 I have never seen 9 or 1 1 , as observed by Schrader. Glumes con- 

 cave, keeled, moderately compressed, green at the back, purple 

 at the sides, membranous and white at the edges, those of the 

 calyx 3-ribbed, much resembling the outer valve of the cor., ex- 

 cept that the lower half of the latter is silky, especially the keel, 

 and the base of each floret bears several longish straight hairs, 

 but the complicated web is wanting ; inner valve finely fringed 

 at the ribs. Stigmas feathery, but according to Mr. Sowerby's 

 observation, slender, and I cannot ascertain whether they are 

 compound or not. The whole panicle often consists of buds in- 

 stead of real florets, particularly in wet seasons. There is also 

 a densely tufted variety, represented in Mr. Knapp's 1. 1 1 7. 



