TRIANDRIA— DIGYNIA. Poa. \2b 



P. dubia. Leers 23. t. 6./. 5. 



P. scabra. Ehrh. Calam. 72. 



Gramenpratensepaniculaturamajus. Bauh. Theatr.28.f. Scheuchz: 

 Agr. \ 77. t. 3. /. 17, A. latiore folio. Rati Syn. 409. 



/3. Poa setacea. flwrf*. ed. 1. 34. 



In meadows and pastures, especially such as are rather moist, very 

 common. 



Perennial. June — October. 



Roots fibrous, tufted. Stems several, about 18 inches high, erect, 

 leafy, with several knots ; the naked part cylindrical, roaghish 

 to the touch, as are the edges and backs of the flat, slightly 

 spreading, lax, linear, deep-green leaves. In their long com- 

 pressed sheaths also a slight roughness is sometimes perceptible. 

 Stipula acute, oblong, or lanceolate, 1^ or 2 lines long, as no- 

 ticed by Scheuchzer, Hudson and Curtis, by which this species 

 is invariably distinguished from the following. Scheuchzer's 

 synonyms of each, misapplied by Linnaeus and all his followers, 

 see Fl. Br., are at length settled by the accurate Schrader. 

 Haller, I have authority to say, did not well discriminate these 

 two grasses ; and Linnaeus has recorded under P. pratensis, his 

 own ignorance of their distinctions, and those of 2 others, which 

 Willdenow has strangely perverted, so as to include the widely 

 .different P. annua, and exclude alpina, which indeed is not less 

 distinct. Panicle large, spreading, with half-whorled, horizontal, 

 wavy, angular, rough, compound, but very unequal, branches. 

 Spikelets ovate, of three, sometimes only two, florets, whose 

 glumes are rough at the keel. Outer valve of the corolla lan- 

 ceolate, acute, concave, moderately compressed, rather longer 

 than the calyx, keeled ; smooth, with 2 lateral ribs, at each 

 side ; membranous at the point ; inner lanceolate, acute, scarcely 

 cloven, or if so, the minute segments are convolute and com- 

 bined, its edges inflexed, smooth. The bases of the florets are 

 attached to the receptacle and to each other by a few long, very 

 slender, convoluted filaments, which may be pulled out to a 

 considerable extent. Nectary ovate, deeply cloven, acute. An- 

 thers deeply divided at each end, with spreading lobes. Germ. 

 ovate. Styles very short. Stigmas large, spreading, feathery, 

 repeatedly subdivided, as in the genus Glyceria. Seed lanceolate, 

 triangular. 



Mr. Curtis, deeply versed in the practical economy of grasses, de- 

 clares this to be one of the most valuable for pasturage and hay, 

 yielding abundantly, though not particularly early ; and of the 

 most excellent quality. 



The variety (3, of which" I have an original specimen, is only a 

 starved plant, with short and slender leaves. 



6. P. pratensis. Smooth-stalked Meadow-grass. 

 Panicle spreading. Spikelets four-flowered. Florets Ian- 



