The Natural History of British Grasses. 527 



communicating these properties to beer." Vol. i. p. 175. 

 Hooker and all botanists follow in the same strain, but merely 

 quoting from each other, as none of them seem to have any per- 

 sonal knowledge of its qualities. Of late years it has been con- 

 fined in its range, and so limited in quantity, that we have 

 never been enabled to procure sufficient to follow out an inves- 

 tigation into this interesting matter ; at present, however, we 

 confess to the belief that its injurious qualities have been much 

 overrated, if indeed the tales about it are not altogether fabulous. 

 Foreign seeds, flax more especially, are almost sure to yield a 

 little of the plant on sowing. 



It Flowers pa7iiculate, floivers more or less lax. 



POA — panicle lax ; locusta of from five to ten florets ; glume 

 of unequal valves, the inner glumel notched at the ex- 

 tremity ; part of the genus sometimes referred to Gly- 

 ceria. 



1. Poa annua — locusta of about five florets, not webbed, — -A. 



2. P. trivialis — lodustm of about thi'ee acute webbed florets ; 



leaves with a rough sheath, ligule pointed. — P. 



3. P. pratensis — locusta of about four acute flowers, with a 



Aveb ; culm and herbage smooth ; ligule short and blunt ; 

 rhizome creeping. — P. 



4. P. compressa — culms flat, oval on a transverse section, rhi- 



zome creeping. — P. 



5. P. nemoralis — locustjE of three flowers, slightly webbed ; 



ligule short ; culms slightly compressed ; rhizome indi- 

 cated. — P. 



6. P. Jiuitans — locust;ip of from seven to eight florets obtuse, 



leaves broad and floating on the water. — P. 

 1. This grass is found about mud-banks, road-sidos, ditches, 

 and dirty places, a life for which its chemical analysis sliows it 

 to be well adapted, as, according to Mr. Way, it contains a large 

 quantity of water and less ash, both in the dried and undried 

 grass, than any other species upon which he operated ; and upon 

 this he remarks, that " the specimen of annual meadow grass, 

 Poa annua, differs from all the others with which it is associated, 

 both in the low percentage of silica and the corresponding de- 

 crease in the proportion of potasli, which, whether calculated 

 on the natural or dry specimen, is peculiarly low ;" and to tliis 

 is appended the following note, "Annual meadow grass is said 

 (see Lowe's 'Agriculture') to be the most productive of all the 

 grasses : Is this in any degree to be attributed to its more moderate 

 mineral requirements ?" In an agricultural point of view, tliis 

 grass may be considered as a weed, as it has scarcely any feeding 



2 -\ -J. 



