193 



POA EEMOTIFLOEA Murb. IN JEKSEY. 



By C. E. Salmon, F.L.S. 



(Plate 532.) 



In the Journal of Botany for 1913, p. 16, mention was made 

 of a Poa found in the Channel Islands in 1910, and thought to be 

 new to Great Britain and the Sarnian flora. This diminutive 

 grass seems to have lieen first observed by Tommasini in 1872, 

 and to have been first published by J. Freyn in his " Flora von 

 Siid-Istrien " (Zool.-Bot. Gesellsch. Wien, xxvii. 469 (1877) ) as 

 "Poa annua L. /3 exilis Tommas. ined., 1-3 stemmed, in minute 

 rosettes, only 2-8 cm. high ; panicle few-flowered, spike-like or 

 with only 1-2 horizontally-spreading branches at the base . . . 

 (Tommasini, 1872)." 



In 1895 Battandier and Trabut (Fl. de I'Alg^rie, 206) introduce 

 the grass as P. annua L. /5^ remotiflora Hackel, with the follow- 

 ing meagre description : " Epillets allonges lin^aires, 5-6 fleurs 

 espac6es." 



It was, however, left to S. Murbeck to work out minutely this 

 interesting grass, and the results of his careful examination may 

 be found in his Contribution de la Flore du Nord-ouest de I'Afriqne, 

 iv. 22 (1900), where he compares it with allied forms, and gives 

 valuable figures. 



I cannot do better than quote his description verbatim, omitting 

 as unnecessary for British botanists the contrasting characters 

 of P. dimorphantha, 



" P. remotiflora (Hack.) nob. — Nova spec. — Annua, foliorum 

 fasciculis sterilibus destituta. Culmi plerumque numerosi, fasci- 

 culati, e basi arcuata adscendentes, 5-20 cm. alti, Isevissimi. 

 Vaginae glaberrimae, Iteves, inferiores compressae et dorso carinatae. 

 Ligula foliorum inferiorum truncate-, superiorum triangulari- 

 oblonga. Laminae lineares, planae vel subcomplicatae (explanataa 

 l'5-4-5 mm. latae), laete virides, moUes, margine et ad nervum 

 medianum scabriusculae, caeterum glaberrimae, etiam foliorum 

 inferiorum apicem versus sat subito acutatae. Panicula triangulari- 

 ovalis vel oblongo-rhomboidea, duplo vel triplo longior quam latior 

 (longit. 3'5-7'5 cm., latit. 1-5-3-5 cm.), unilateralis, laxa, ramis 

 2-3-nis, laevibus, erecto-patulis, patentibus vel infimis post anthesin 

 patentissimis attamen non refractis. Spiculae oblongae vel oblongo- 

 lineares, acutiusculae, a lateribus compressse, 2-5-florae, 3"5-5-5 mm. 

 longae, virides vel violaceo-variegatae, rachilla glaberrima. Gluma 

 inferior ovato-oblonga, subacuta, 1-nervis, 1-1-3 mm. longa ; 

 superior oblonga vel ovato-oblonga, obtusa vel acutiuscula, 3-nervis, 

 1-5-2 mm. longa. Flores in quaque spicula remoti, rachillam non 

 vel vix occultantes, sat dissimiles: zw/c?-iores hermaphroditi, sub- 

 proterandri, oblongo-lanceolati, 2-2-8 mm. longi; glumella inferior 

 dorso rotundata, a basi usque ad ultra medium nervis 5 dense 

 sericeo-villosis ornata, apice membranaceo rotundato-obtusa ; 

 glumella superior inferiorem subaequans, a basi fere usque ad 

 apicem ad nervos sericeo-villosa ; lodiculae oblique triangulares ; 



Journal of Botany. — Vol. 52. [August, 1914.] q 



