230 A TEXT-BOOK OF GRASSES 
panicles large and open, 4 to 12 inches long. Sometimes 
cultivated as a meadow-grass. 
Annual blue-grass (Poa annua L.)—A low-spreading 
tufted annual with soft light green foliage and small 
panicles resembling those of P. pratensis. A native of 
Europe, now a common weed throughout the warmer por- 
tions of the United States. In the eastern states, it is a 
troublesome weed in lawns, because, though it makes a 
good showing in the spring, it dies out later, leaving bare 
spots. 
Poa arachnifera Torr. Texas blue-grass. A smooth rhizome- 
bearing, dicecious perennial 1 to 2 feet high, with contracted pani- 
cles 2 to 4 inches long; the staminate spikelets glabrous, the lemmas 
of the pistillate spikelets villous on the keel and marginal nerves, 
provided at base with a copious tuft of woolly hairs. A native of 
Texas, where it is a good but rather local range-grass. This species 
has been recommended as a winter pasture-grass for the South. 
Many native species of Poa are important constituents of moun- 
tain ranges. 
254. Festuca L.—Fescue-grass. A large genus found 
in all the cooler and arctic regions of the world. Annuals 
or perennials with narrow or open panicles of several- 
flowered spikelets; lemmas rounded on back, rather firm 
in texture, 5-nerved, acute or tapering into an awn. The 
annual species are weedy but the perennial species are 
excellent forage grasses, several species being cultivated 
as pasture-grasses. 
255. Meadow fescue.—A tufted smooth perennial 
1 to 4 feet high, with narrow panicle, 4 to 8 inches long, 
the branches spreading while in flower but contracting 
later. Commonly cultivated as a meadow- and pasture- 
grass. A form with lower culms and more simple panicle 
has been called F. pratensis Huds. In some localities 
meadow fescue is called English blue-grass. 
