354 REPORT OF TB& COMMISSIONER OP AGRICULTURE. 



is considered a variety of the tall Fescue grass {Festuca elatior), which 

 is taller, stouter, and more reed-like. (See Plate XI.) 



Glyceeia aquatica — Eeed Meadow grass. 



This grass has a stout, erect, leafy culm, 3 to 4 feet high. Tlie leaves 

 arc a foot or two long, one-quarter to half an iach wide, flat, and usually 

 souiewhat rough, especially on the edges. 



The panicle is much branched, large, 9 to 15 inches long, the brandies 

 arranged iu half whorls alternately on the rachis, at first erect, but 

 spreading with 9 ge. The spikelets are oblong, about a quarter of an 

 inch long, 5 to 9 flowered, with capillary petlicels. The lower third of 

 the branches is naked. The glumes are unequal, 1 nerved, and some- 

 what obtuse. The lower palet is obtuse, strongly 7 nerved, and entire 

 at the apex. The upper palet is somewhat 2 toothed, and about as long 

 as the lower. 



Hon. J. S. Gould says : 



This grass is made into hay, ■svhich is liked by cattle. It flowers in July ; it is found 

 in most parts of Europe, and is widely diifused in this country iu wettish meadows. 



It may be doubted whether the European grass of this name is iden- 

 tical with the American one, although certainly very similar. (See 

 Plate XII.) 



Glyceeia neevata — Nerved Meadow grass. 



This is similar in ax)pearance and habit to the preceding, but smaller. 

 The culms are 2 to 3 feet high, usually somewhat decumbent below, 

 often branching and rooting at the lower joints. It varies greatly iu 

 size and in the magnitude of the panicle. It usually grows along the 

 wet margins of streams in close patches. The panicle is from 4 to 8 

 inches long, nodding when young, loose and spreatling with capillary 

 branches. The leaves are 8 to 12 inches long, and 2 to 3 lines wide. 

 The spikelets are small, about 5 flowered, oblong, becoming purplish 

 with age. The upper glume is 3 nerved and obtuse, the lower rather 

 acute and scarious on the margin. The lower palets are truncate-obtuse, 

 and iiromiuently 7 nerved ; the upper one 2 toothed at the ajjcx. It is 

 a very common grass iu moist grounds and swamps, extending to the 

 Kocky Mountains and northward to Alaska. (See Plate XIII.) 



PoA coirpRESSA — Wire grass, Blue grass. 



This species has sometimes been confounded with the Kentucky Blue 

 grass {Poa pratensh)^ from which it differs in many i)articulars. It is 

 found in many old pastures, on dry banks, and in open woods. 



The culms are hard and much flattened, 1 foot to IS inches long, more 

 or less decumbent and bent at several of the lower joiuts. The leaves 

 are scanty, smooth, short, and of a dark, bluish green color. Tbe pan- 

 icle is short and contracted, 1 to 3 inches long. The branches are in 

 pairs or threes, short and rough, and frequently one-sided. The spike- 

 lets are ovate-oblong, flat, short-pediceled, and generally 5 to G flowered. 

 The glumes are acute, 3 nerved, often tinged with purple. 



The lower palets are 3 to 5 nerved, the lower part of the nerves finely 

 hairy. At the base of the florets a delicate web of hairs is usually pres- 

 sent. 



This species may be distinguished from Foa jpratensis by its flattened 



