GRAMINEAE 367 



Oulm 4 to 6 feet high, erect, or ascending, compressed. Leaves 4 to 10 inches 

 long, lance-linear, scabrous on the margins and upper surface; sheaths nerved, 

 smooth ; ligule very large, oblong. Panicle 9 to 15 inches long, partly concealed 

 in the sheath of the upper leaf ; branches mostly simple ; spikelets about an inch 

 long ; anthers large, yellow ; scales subcordate ; grain linear-oblong. 

 Hob. Shallow ponds, and wet places : frequent. Fl. June. Fr. July. 



i- H- Lower palea usually compressed) or keeled; panicle generally open. 



485. PO V A, L. 



[An ancient Greek n ame for herbage, or pasture.] 



Spikelets ovate, or oblong, compressed, few- or several-flowered.- 

 Glumes mostly shorter than the florets, the lower one smaller. 

 Lower palea herbaceous, with a scarious margin, keeled, or convex, 

 pointless, 5-nerved, the nerves often clothed at base with cobweb- 

 like hairs; upper palea rather smaller, membranaceous, 2-keeled, 

 deciduous with the lower one. Stamens 2, or 3. Stigmas simply 

 plumose. Grain oblong. Culms cespitose. 



f Panicle-branches mostly I or 2 at a node. 

 * Branches smooth and sliort ; florets not webbed at base. 



1. P. dnnua, L. Culms short, spreading, compressed; leaves short; 

 spikelets 3- to 7-flowered, on short pedicels, rather crowded. 

 ANNUAL POA. Early, or Dwarf Meadow-grass. 



Culms 3 to 9 inches long, often nearly procumbent, geniculate, glabrous. Leaves 

 1 to 3 inches long ; sheaths loose, smooth ; ligule oblong, dentate. Panicle often 

 rather secund, the branches solitary, subdivided. 

 Hab. Yards ; along foot-paths, &c. Nat. of Europe. Fl. April. Fr. June. 



Obs. I incline to think this humble species is not indigenous, 

 here. STILLINGFLEET says, it "makes the finest of turfs. It grows 

 every where by way sides, and on rich commons (in England). It 

 is called in some parts the Suffolk Grass." 



* * Panicle-branches long, roughish; florets webbed at base. 



I", pfmg'ens, Nuttall. Culms compressed; radical leaves 

 long, linear, those of the culm few, short, and cuspidate; spike- 

 lets 3- to 5-flowered, crowded at the ends of the branches. 

 PUNGENT POA. 



Perennial. Culms 1 to 2 feet long, glabrous, somewhat cespitose. Leaves 2 to 9 

 inches in length, usually 2 on the culm; sheaths striate, roughish, rather loose; 

 ligule truncate, lacerate, sometimes abruptly acuminate. Panicle nearly simple, 

 small, spreading below, contracted and almost racemose at summit ; branches in 

 twos or threes ; grain oblong, 2-horned at apex. 

 Hab. Hilly woodlands, along Brandywine : not common. Fl. April. Fr. May. 



Obs. This early-flowering species (which by a singular misnomer 

 has been also called P. autumnalis,) is frequent in woodlands along 

 the Brandywine ; but I have rarely met with it elsewhere. 



t f Panicle-branches in semi-verticils of 3 to 5, or more; spike] ets subsessile, crowded 

 on tfie branches; florets more or less webbed at base. 



3. P> trivialis, L. Culms sub-terete and, with the sheaths, retrorsely 

 scabrous; ligule elongated, acuminate; spikelets 2- to 3-flowered ; 

 florets slightly webbed. 



