CLASS III. ORDER II.] POA. 1 19 



Florets three or four, more or less tinged with purple. Glumelles 

 nearly equal : the outer valve acute, obscurely ribbed, finely downy; 

 the keel with long down, especially at the base, which is webbed: the 

 inner valve with two marginal, more or less fringed ribs, bifid at the 

 apex. Stigmas small, feathery. Anthers slender, yellow. 



Habitat. — On the east and southern parts of England, principally 

 on the sea-shores. 



Perennial ; flowering in April and May. 



This singular species of grass is peculiarly fitted to dry, sandy situa- 

 tions. The bulbs formed at the base of the stems and leaves, are 

 blown about on the surface of the sand during the greater part of the 

 summer months, until the ground becomes humid, when they also 

 become fixed, and shortly put out their fibrous roots deep into the sand, 

 and, during the early part of spring, shoot forth an abundance of leaves, 

 which form a grateful, and the principal part of the herbage for cattle 

 on the Denes at Yarmouth, and other places, until there is a greater 

 abundance of other summer food, by which time they have withered 

 away. This species, Sir J. E. Smith observes, " abounds in Germany^ 

 France, and Italy ;" and that those collected " in the streets of Rome 

 are usually viviparous ;" and Sir W. J. Hooker adds, " So are my 

 specimens from Germany ;" but it has not, that I am aware of, been 

 found in that state in this country. 



*** Spikelets ovate-oblong. 



11 . P. praten'sis, Linn. (Fig. 149;) smooth stalked Meadow-grass. 



Panicle spreading ; glumes nearly equal, three-ribbed ; florets 



about four, five-ribbed, connected by a web at the base ; stem and 



leaves smooth ; ligula short ; root with creeping stems. 



English Botany, t. 1073. — English Flora, vol, i. p. 126.— Lindley, 



Synopsis, p. 317.— Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 46.— Sinclair, Hort. 



Gram. Woburn. p. 142. 



jS. angustifo'lia ; smaller, with narrower involute leaves. Poa 

 angustifolia, Linn. 



y. sub-cceru'lea; smaller; the leaves short, broad, and the whole 

 plant of a glaucous hue. Poa sub-ccerulea, Smith, English Botany, 

 t. 1004. 



Root fibrous, with long horizontal underground stems, which fre- 

 quently give out numerous leaves, and erect, smooth, flowering stems, 

 from one to two feet high. Leaves numerous, linear, spreading, obtuse, 

 striated, and smooth, sometimes roughish on the keel and margins. 

 Sheaths close, smooth, striated, upper ones rather long. Ligula short, 

 obtuse, a character by which this species is readily distinguished from 

 the following, to which it is nearly allied. Inflorescence an erect, 

 smooth, branched, spreading panicle. Glumes nearly equal, three- 

 ribbed, smooth, except the upper part of the keel. Florets about four. 



