FESTUCEA 227 
tapering into a slender point; 
panicle 3 to 6 inches long, the 
branches few and stiff, singly dis- 
posed, naked below, bearing a few 
l-sided clusters of spikelets, the 
clusters being about 14 inch wide, 
green or purplish; spikelets com- 
pressed, about 14 inch long usu- 
ally 3- or 4-flowered; first glume 
l-nerved, acute; second glume 
longer than the first, 3-nerved, 
acuminate, ciliate on the keel; lem- 
mas rather indistinctly 5-nerved, 
ciliate on the keel, short-awned. 
During the flowering period the 
branches are spread open by the 
turgidity of prominent cushions of 
tissue in the basal angle. Later 
these cushions shrink and _ the 
branches become appressed so that 
in fruit the panicle is narrow and 
almost spike-like. The tufts of 
orchard-grass soon develop at the 
base into large tussocks. In Eng- 
land this grass is known as cock’s- 
foot. 
251. Poa L.—Blue-grass. 
A large genus of over 100 
species, found throughout the 
world in the cooler parts and 
in the high mountains of the 
tropics. Annuals or mostly 
perennials often with creeping , 
rhizomes. Spikelets in narrow 
Ne 
Fic. 53. Dactylis glomerata. In- 
florescence, X 24, spikelet, <7. 
or open panicles, 2- to 6-flowered; lemmas 5-nerved, awn- 
less, somewhat scarious at tip, smooth or hairy on the 
nerves, sometimes cobwebby at base. This is one of the 
