122 TRIODIA. 



[class III. ORDER 11" 



year. For agricultural purposes it is of uo value, compared with many 

 otlier grasses. 



14. P. nenwra'lis, Linn. (Fig. 152.) wood Meadotv-grass. Panicle 

 slender, slightly drooping, spreading ; glumes unequal ; florets 

 about four, a little remote, silky, scarcely webbed ; stem slightly 

 compressed ; ligula short, obtuse. 



English Botany, t. 1265.— English Flora, vol. i. p. 129.— Lindley, 

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

 Ch-am. Woburn. p. 182. 



0. glau'ca, (Fig. 153.) Whole plant much smaller, and glaucous. 



Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 46. — Po'a glau'ca, English Botany, 

 t..l720. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 128. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 317. — 

 Sinclair, Hort. Gram. Woburn. p. 192. 



Root fibrous. Stem from one to three feet high, slender, erect, 

 trauched at the base, smooth, slightly compressed. Leaves narrow, flat, 

 linear, acute, ribbed, roughish on the edges and keel. Sheaths short, 

 dose, striated, smooth. Ligula very short, obtuse, notched. Infiores- 

 tTnce a loose, slightly drooping, spreading, waved, slender, rough, 

 branched panicle. Glumes unequal, ovate-lanceolate, acute, keeled, 

 and obscurely ribbed. Florets from three to five, rather distant, a 

 shilling green tinged with purple. Glumclles nearly equal : the outer 

 yalve with a thin membranous margin, the keel and two lateral ribs 

 sil"ky, the base scarcely webbed ; the mner with two strong, smooth, 

 lateral ribs, the membranous margins inflexed, the point bifid. Stigmas 

 feathery. Anthers yellow. 



Habitat. — Frequent in woods and shady places. — /3. Frequent on 

 iire Welsh and Scotch mountains. 



Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 



The variety glauca was regarded by Sir J. E. Smith as a distinct 

 sjecies ; but from the examination of both wild and cultivated speci- 

 Diens, we think with Sir W. J. Hooker, that it is but an alpine state of 

 Poa ncmoralis. 



GENUS XXXVII. TRIO'DIA. Brown. Heath-grasi. 



Gen. Char. Panicle racemed. Spikelets many-flowered. Glumes 

 two, nearly equal. Glumelles two, unequal : the external one 

 with three nearly equal teeth ; the middle one stiff", straight. — 

 Name from rpEi;, three, and oJouf, a tooth ; in reference to the 

 three-toothed apex of the outer glumella. 



I, T. decum'hcns, Beauv. (Fig. 154.) decumbent Heath-grass. Pa- 

 nicle a nearly simple raceme of few spikelets ; glumes smooth, as 

 long as the florets ; ligula a tuft of hairs. 



