122 FESTUCEAE 



well. In many places in the mountains beside cool streams it 

 has escaped and is perfectly at home. 



F^oa arciica, P. compressa, P. aperta and P. interior are 

 all small and rare species known only from the tops of high 

 mountains mostly near or above timber-line. Their most 

 characteristic. differences are g"i\en in the key following and 

 probably no one but an assiduous collector will ever see them. 

 Poa occidcntalis Vasey is a tall weak grass that occurs rather 

 commonly in rich moist soil, often in shady places in the 

 timbered mountains. It is from 2 to 3 feet high with a few 

 stems from the root, rather numerous, flat, basal and stem 

 leaves and a loosely spreadi-.ig ])aniclc of small green spikelets 

 on the ends of rather long and drooping branches. It is 

 never very abundant in any one place but appears as scattered 

 bunches in ratlier protected situations. It adds a little to the 

 summer forage of such regions. Poa traceyi is very like it in 

 suj>i'rficial appearance but is distinguished by the villous flow- 

 ering glumes. 



Mutton Grass (Poa fendlcriana) is really the only 

 native species of Poa that is of much economic value in New 

 Mexico. It is a bunch grass that is usuallv 12 or 14 inches 

 high with numerous slender leaves forming a thick basal tuft 

 and a rather short and slightly crowded panicle (sometimes 

 a little spreading) of pale colored spikelets. The glumes are 

 usually ratlu'r thin though not thin cntnigh to see through 

 them and slightly pinkish tinged. This species usually occurs 

 in the mountains of the southern part of the State and to a 

 less extent in the more northerly parts. Its Jiabit of begin- 

 ning to grow along in the winter makes it a very good early 

 spring feed when other things are not to l)e had. It will 

 not grdw on the mesas of the lower part of the State because 

 the summer months are too hot and such situations are 

 also too dry for it, but, in the foothills of the mountains of 

 this region it does well, commences to grow early and matures 

 its seed usually about the time the other grasses are just 

 beginning to grow. Its name of Mutton Grass arises 



