170 POA. 



34. POA — Linn. Mea3 ^w Grass, Spear Grass. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Spikelets ovate or lance ovate, laterally compressed, 

 several (2 to 10-flowered), in an open panicfe ; glumes 

 mostly shorter than the flowers, the lower smaller ; 

 lower palet membranaceo-herbaceous, with a delicate 

 scarious margin, compressed-keeled, pointless, 5- 

 nerved (the intermediate nerves more obscure or ob- 

 solete), the principle nerves commonly clothed at and 

 towards the base with soft hairs — upper palet mem- 

 branaceous, 2-toothed. base of the flower often cob- 

 webby ; stamens 2 or 3 ; stigmas simply plumose ; 

 grain oblong, free ; culms tufted, from perennial 

 roots, except JSTo. 1 ; leaves smooth, usually flat and 

 soft. 



Poa^ an ancient Greek name for grass or fodder. 



1. Poa xlnnua (Annual Meadow Grass or Low Spear 

 Grass. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Culms flattened ; panicle often 1-sided ; spikelets 

 crowded, very short pedicelled, 3 to 7-flowered. 

 Common. 



Poa Annua is not, as its name implies, permanent, 

 yet being in flower at different periods during the 

 whole of the summer, it produces seeds even when, 

 mown or fed, which spring again, and thus it forms 

 a part of the sw^ard as constantly as if it were peren- 

 ennial. Cattle of every kind are fond of it, and it is 

 thought to have a peculiarly good effect in improving 

 the quality of the butter, though its produce is com- 

 paratively small. 



