P. PRATENSIS, L, JUNE GRASS. 133 



smooth, terete. Leves narrow, keeled, tip closed, ligule 

 short, obtuse. Panicle pyramidal, 2-3 inches long, with slender, 

 spreading branches, 3-5-nate. Spikelets ovate or oblong, 3-5- 

 flowered. Floral glume silky-hairy on the keel, 5-nerved. See 

 Fig. 51. 



This is one of the most common and most useful grasses in the 

 Northern temperate zone ; especially valuable in North America 

 for lawns and permanent pastures. 



It is not so highly esteemed in Great Britain as in this country, 

 as there it is objected to on account of excluding other grasses 

 which are considered more valuable in that climate. It is found 

 also in Asia and Australia, varying considerably in size and 

 appearance. 



June grass varies in height, from a few inches to a foot, and 

 in rich ground, where the stems have not yet become crowded, 

 samples may be found which exceed four feet. It is noted for 

 root stocks which spread rapidly and fill the ground near the sur- 

 face with a close mat of turf, much like quack grass. This 

 makes the grass very tenacious and hard to kill, especially in 

 moist land or in wet seasons when the land is used for a hoed 

 crop. The crowding of these root stocks weakens the stems above 

 ground and soon a large amount of vegetable matter accumulates 

 near the surface. 



It flowers about the same time as the earliest red clover and 

 orchard grass, and nearly all comes on at once. The seed soon 

 matures, and, unlike Poa compressa and Poa serotina, the culms 

 soon turn yellow and die, and the leaves become feeble or perish. 



It flowers but once a year. The leaves are slender and when 

 dry fold up like the two halves of a book when closed. 



As stock feed off the leaves, many of them, and some new ones, 

 continue to elongate by growth at the base of the blade near the 

 apex of the sheath. The apex of the blade is the oldest portion; 

 the base the youngest. 



