322 HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 



POA distans. Reflexed Meadow-grass. 



Gli/ceria distans. Reflexed sweet-grass. Sm. Engl. Fl. i. 

 p. 118. 



Poa retroflexa. Curtis, Lond. 



Poa salhia. PoUich. pal. n. 92. 



Aira aquatica. B. Huds. Angl. 34. 



Specific character : Panicle equal, divaricated; branches finally 

 reflexed; spikelets linear, five-flowered; florets blunt, distant, 

 obsoletely 5-nerved. 



Obs. — Culms from six to eighteen inches high, round, striated, 

 smooth, obliquely ascending, procumbent from the base to 

 the first joint, sending out branches. Leaves with long- 

 sheaths, sharpish, even, glaucous, flat; the root-leaves a little 

 rolled in. Panicle erect, with the branches in half whirls, 

 angular, rugged, somewhat flexuose, branches of various 

 lengths ; finally much bent. Spikelets linear, from 4 to 

 7-flowered, variegated with white or purple. Florets remote, 

 sub-cylindrical, very blunt, retuse, 5-nerved, scariose at the 

 tip, with the inner glumes emarginate. E. Bot. t. 986 ; 

 Host. ii. p. 46, t. 63 ; Curt. Lond. fasc. 61 ; Wither, t. 25. 



Native of Britain. Root fibrous. Annual when cultivated in 

 exposed situations. Perennial in its natural place of 

 growth. 



German, JEntferntblnthiges-Rispengras. 



Experiments. — At the time of flowering, tlie produce from a 



sandy loam is — 



Produce per Acre. 



dr. qr. lbs. 



Grass, 7 oz. The produce per acre - 4764 6 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry - 22 0| I'^IOSO 



The produce of the space, ditto - 30 3^ 3 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 3454 3 

 64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 2 ^ 1 40 1 4 q 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 3 2 3 



Mr. Curtis observes of this grass, that though at first sight it 

 bears a near resemblance to the Poa annua, and no doubt is often 

 mistaken for it, yet it is considerably taller, its leaves narrower in 

 proportion, and much more glaucous ; its spikelets are also much 

 narrower, as well as longer, and of course contain many more 

 florets, which are, for the most part, prettily variegated with pale 

 green and purple; but the chief character which distinguishes this 



