210 GRASSES OF BRITAIN. 



PoA Parnellii. 



BahingtorHs Meadow- Grass. 



Plate XCIII. 



Specific Characters. — Florets not webbed. Ligule very short, ob- 

 tuse. Upper leaf shorter than its sheath. Outer palea five-ribbed. 

 Upper joint about the middle of the stem. 



Description. — Root perennial, fibrous, producing stems from six 

 to eighteen inches in length. Stems erect, compressed, smooth and 

 somewhat polished, bearing four or five leaves with smooth, striated 

 sheaths ; the upper sheath longer than its leaf. Ligule of upper sheath 

 very short and obtuse, about six times as broad as long. Joints four, 

 the upper one naked, stiuated about the middle of the stem, and very 

 remote from the second. Leaves lanceolate, flat, acute, rough on the 

 upper surface and edges, smooth behind on the lower half. Inflo- 

 rescence compound panicled, usually about three inches in length, 

 erect, rather close, the branches slender, rough, the lower ones aris- 

 ing from the rachis mostly in pairs or threes ; the rachis on the lower 

 part scarcely smaller than the stem, smooth, the upper part rough. 

 Spikelets ovate-lanceolate, composed of two glumes and two or three 

 florets, the summit of the lowermost floret extending a little beyond 

 the apex of the large glume. Glumes unequal, acute, three-ribbed, 

 the dorsal rib minutely toothed on the upper third. Florets of two 

 paleae, not webbed, the outer palea of lowermost floret five-ribbed, the 

 dorsal and marginal ribs hairy on the lower half, the one on each 

 side of the dorsal very indistinct, not hairy, (best seen when the palea 

 is opened and held between the lens and light). Inner palea about 

 equal in length to the outer, with two green ribs minutely fringed. 

 Pedicle of second floret roughish on one side. Filaments three. 

 Anthers notched at each extremity. Ovarium obovate. Stgles two, 

 distinct. Stigmas feathery. 



Obs. — Poa Parnellii is more closely allied to Poa polynoda than 

 to any other of the British Poas. It is, however, distinguished from 

 Poa polynoda in the ligule being much shorter and more obtuse, 

 and about six times as broad as long, (Fig. 6) ; lower part of the rachis 



Poa PnrndUi, Babington's Manual of British Botany. 



