GRASSI'S OF SCOTLAND. 83 



at an elevation of between 3000 and 4000 feet above the sea, it will, 

 when cultivated in the low-land, thrive well, but not sufficiently so as 

 to render it an object of agricultural attention. Hares and rabbits 

 are remarkably fond of the leaves, which they crop close to the 

 ground. It is a very early grass, coming into flower about the third 

 week of May, and ripens its seed about the end of June. 



It is found on several of the mountains in Perth, Forfar, Aber- 

 deen, and Inverness ; and in England, in the counties of Caernarvon 

 and York. It is also a native of Lapland, Norway, Sweden, Ger- 

 many, France, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, Greenland, Iceland, and 

 the northern parts of North America ; but has not been found 

 in the United States. 



56. POA LAX A. 



WavT/ Meadow- Grass. 



Specific Characters. — Florets not webbed. Outer palea three- 

 ribbed. Glumes three-ribbed. Upper leaf flat and shorter than its 

 sheath. Rachis and branches rough. (Plate XXXVIII.) 



Description. — It grows from six to twelve inches high. The root 

 is perennial, fibrous, somewhat creeping. Stem round, smooth, and 

 slender, bearing two or three leaves with smooth striated sheaths ; 

 the upper sheath much longer than its leaf, crowned with a long acute 

 ligule (Fig 5), generally embracing the stem ; second sheath fre- 

 quently covering the first joint. Joints two, smooth ; the upper joint 

 nearer the root than to the panicle. Leaves fiat, linear, lanceolate, ta- 

 per-pointed, flaccid, roughish on the edges and inner surface, smooth 

 behind. Inflorescence panicled. Panicle slightly drooping, the branch- 

 es roughish and slender, the lower ones long and generally in pairs. 

 Spikelets oblong-ovate ; green or tinged with purple, frequently 

 viviparous, of three awnless florets ; the summit of the lowermost flo- 

 ret projecting beyond the large glume of the calyx. Calgx of 

 two nearly equal acute glumes (Fig. 1), membranous at the mar- 

 gins ; the inner glume three-ribbed ; the outei* without lateral ribs. 

 Florets not webbed ; of two paleae (Fig. 2) ; the outer palea of lower- 

 most floret three-ribbed (Fig. 3), the lower half of the ribs hairy, the 



* Poa laxa, Hsenk. Koch. 



