202 GRAMINEAE. 
2. Poa Chapmaniana Scribn. Chapman’s Spear-grass. (Fig. 460.) 
Poa cristata Chapm. Fl. S. States, 562. 1860. Not 
a Walt. 1788. 
Ll hese Chapmaniana Scribn. Bull. Torr, Club, 21: 38. 
1894. 
Culms 3/-6’ tall, erect from an annual root, 
simple, rigid, smooth and glabrous. Sheaths 
tight, mostly at the base of the culm; ligule %4// 
long, truncate; leaves 12/-1/ long, }4’’ wide or less, 
smooth; panicle 1/-2’ in length, the branches 
usually erect, sometimes spreading or ascending, 
34’ long or less, naked at the base; spikelets 3-7- 
flowered, 14%//-114’ long; lower scales about 
equal, 3-nerved, acute; flowering scales webbed at 
the base, obtuse, 3-nerved, sometimes with two ad- 
ditional obscure nerves, the prominent ones some- 
times pilose for three-fourths their length. 
In dry soil, Kentucky and Tennessee to Florida and 
Alabama. April-May. 
3. Poa compréssa L. Wire-grass. Flat-stemmed Meadow-grass. English 
Blue-grass. (Fig. 461.) 
Poa compressa I,. Sp. Pl. 69. 1753. 
Pale bluish-green, glabrous, culms 6/-2° tall, decum- 
bent at the base, from long horizontal rootstocks, smooth, 
much flattened. Sheaths loose, flattened, shorter than 
the internodes; ligule 14’’ long; leaves 1/-4/ long, about 
1’’ wide, smooth beneath, rough above; panicle usu- 
ally contracted, the branches erect or ascending, 1/ 
long or less, spikelet-bearing nearly to the base; spike- 
lets 3-9-flowered, 114//-3’’ long; lower scales acute, 3- 
nerved; flowering scales 1//-114’’ long, obscurely 3- 
nerved, the nerves sparingly pubescent toward the 
base. 
Waste places and cultivated grounds and woods almost 
throughout North America. Ascends to 2100 ft. in Virginia. 
Naturalized from Europe. Native alsoof Asia. Varies from 
weak and slender to quite stiff. June-Aug. 
4. Poa abbreviata R. Br. Low Spear- 
grass. (Fig. 462.) 
Poa abbreviata R. Br. Bot. App. Parry’s Voy. 287. 1824. 
Culms 6’ tall or less, erect, simple, smooth and 
glabrous. Sheaths and leaves crowded at the base 
of the culm; ligule %4’” long; leaves %/-1’ long, 
14// wide; panicle contracted, 14/-1/ long, branches 
very short and erect; spikelets 3-5-flowered, 24’ 
long; lower scales acute, smooth and glabrous; 
flowering scales about 114/’ long, obtuse, strongly 
pubescent all over, the intermediate nerves very 
obscure. 
Arctic America from Greenland and Labrador to the 
Pacific. Summer. 
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