282 



Fig. 276. POA BREVIFOLIA Muhl. Gram. 138. 1817. SOUTHERN SPEAR- 

 GRASS.— An erect perennial 3-9 dm. (l°-3°) high, with running rootstocks, 

 short culm leaves, and widely spreading, few-flowered panicles 7-12 cm. ( 2i'-5') 

 long. Sheaths about equaling the internodes; ligule 2-3 mm. (l"-li".) long; 

 leaf-blades smooth beneath, scabrous above, 2-4 mm. (l"-2") Avide, abruptly 

 acute, those of the culm 1-10 cm. (^'-4' j long. Spikelets (a) 3 to 6 flowered, .5-7 

 mm. {2^"-Zi") long; empty glumes unequal, acute, glabrous, the first 1-nerved, 

 the second 3-nerved; flowering glumes (b) obtuse, 5-nerved, 4-5 mm. (2"-2i") 

 long, slightly webbed at the base, the keel and marginal nerves sparingly 

 pubescent.— Wooded river bluffs and the grassy summits and wooded slopes of 

 mountains, New Jersey to northern Ohio and Illinois, south to North Carolina 

 and Tennessee. March to May. 



