PO A 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



PO A 



365 



species. The former grows generally on walls, on dry banks, 

 and in meadows; the Trivialis is scarcely ever found on walls, 

 seldom on dry banks, but most frequently in moist meadows, 

 or by the side of ditches, where it flowers the first week of 

 June: the former appears in flower in the middle of May, 

 and after it has once flowered, never shews an appearance of 

 repeating it; while the Trivialis is in bloom generally during 

 the whole of the summer. Lastly, there is a firmness in the 

 stalk of the Pratensis, not perceivable in the Trivialis. As to 

 the pubescence or filamentose appearance, which seems to 

 connect the florets and calix together, and adheres to the 

 seeds so as to cause them to hang together as if there were 

 cobwebs among them, that is found almost equally in both 

 species. The foliage of this Grass begins to shoot, and to 

 assume a beautiful verdure, very early in the spring; but its 

 flowering-stems come at least a week later than the Meadow 

 Fox-tail Grass. Where early pasturage is desired, it cannot 

 be better obtained than by a combination of these two with 

 Sweet-scented Vernal Grass; and if crop be an object, Fox- 

 tail should predominate. The Great Meadow Grass prefer- 

 ring a dry situation, keeps its verdure in a continued drought 

 better than most others: but its root is like that of Couch- 

 grass, (see Triticum Repens;) and ought therefore to be 

 carefully introduced where the meadow is not intended to be 

 permanent. From its not throwing up any steins or bents 

 but once in the season, together with its hardiness and ver- 

 dure, it seems to be a good Grass for lawns. In dry soils the 

 crops from this Grass yearly diminish in quantity, so as at 

 last to be very trifling: though Dr. Withering informs us, 

 that it constitutes a considerable part of the herbage on the 

 rich meadows in the various parts of Somersetshire; and Mr. 

 Swayne adds, that in meadows which have been flooded the 

 whole winter, it flourishes so as nearly to exclude every other 

 Grass. 



10. Poa Ferruginea; Rust-coloured Meadow Grass. 

 Panicle spreading, capillary; spikelets five-flowered, oblong; 

 glumes smooth. Native of Japan. 



11. Poa Cilianensis. Panicle elongated, branched, flexu- 

 ose ; spikelets four-flowered, smooth. Culms grooved, smooth, 

 brown at the knots; leaves dark green, smooth, ciliate about 

 the sheath, two or three lines wide; peduncles mostly one- 

 flowered, sometimes two-flowered. Native of Italy. 



12. Poa Nervata; Five-nerved Meadow Grass. Panicle 

 strict; spikelets smooth, five-flowered, nerved; corollas 

 smooth, having five raised nerves on each valve. Native of 

 North America. 



13. Poa Trinervata; Three-nerved Meadow Grass. Pani- 

 cle diffused ; spikelets four or five flowered, very sharp, rug- 

 ged; outer glume of the corolla three-nerved ; inner two- 

 nerved; root perennial. This evidently differs from all the 

 others except the second, and may be distinguished from 

 that by its longer culm, much wider leaves, smaller spikelets, 

 and by its narrow very acute glumes. It flowers in June 

 and July. Native of Germany. 



14. Poa Sudetica. Panicle from erect spreading; spike- 

 lets three-flowered, very smooth, mucronate. Culm erect, 

 compressed; sheath of the leaves loose, ancipital; height 

 four feet. Native of the mountains of Silesia, and of the 

 marshes of Hanover and Magdebourg. 



15. Poa Rubens; Red-panicled Meadow Grass. Panicle 

 spreading ; spikelets four-flowered, or thereabouts ; outer 

 glume of the corolla five-nerved. Culm erect, compressed. 

 This is a middle species between the two preceding: it differs 

 from the Trinervata, which it most resembles in having 

 shorter broader leaves, a longer ligule, a shorter panicle 

 of a red colour, and less divaricate, the spikelets more 



crowded and rugged, the outer valve of the corolla five- 

 nerved. Perennial ; and a native of Germany, in the Lower 

 Hesse. 



16. Poa Anceps. Two-edged Meadow Grass. Panicle 

 diffused: spikelets five-flowered, acute, pubescent at the 

 base; culm ancipital. Native of New Zealand. 



17. Poa Annua; Annual Meadow Grass. Panicle diva- 

 ricate; spikelets ovate; florets somewhat remote, five-nerved, 

 free; culm oblique, compressed. Root annual, remarkably 

 full of fibres; herbage bright green, not glaucous; spikelets 

 variegated with green and white, rarely reddish. It is dis- 

 tinguished from the sixth species by its general habit, its 

 spreading panicle, its reclining culms, its smoothness, and 

 a greater softness and delicacy. It differs from the ninth 

 species by having the branches or peduncles in pairs, its 

 panicle more thinly set, and its spikelets larger; from both 

 those Grasses, by its inferior size, compressed culms, annual 

 root, the property of throwing out new shoots, and having 

 the florets and seed separate, not hanging together by 

 cobweb-like hairs. If Gramen, (Grass,) says Ray, be so 

 named a gradiendo or progrediendo, i. e. walking along, or 

 going forward step by step, no species exemplifies the 

 name more aptly than this, which differs very consider- 

 ably from all other annual Grasses, in continaally throwing 

 out new shoots, and producing new flowers and seeds; inso- 

 much that if the ground be moist, a single plant will grow in 

 this manner throughout the year, so that we generally find 

 on the same plant young shoots and ripe seeds. In this 

 peculiar circumstance, therefore, it resembles the tropical 

 plants, and probably is the only one of our vegetables that 

 affords us a specimen of their mode of growth. No Grass 

 also is better entitled to the accurate Ray's expressive epithet 

 of Vulyatissimnm; for it is common to every quarter of the 

 globe, and occurs almost every where in meadows, gardens, 

 by the sides of paths, and on walls; flowering all the summer, 

 and even in the winter, if the weather be mild. In open 

 fields the panicle frequently acquires a reddish tinge. It 

 becomes viviparous in alpine situations. In walks, pave- 

 ments, and pitchings, it is one of the most troublesome weeds : 

 in such situations, the most expeditious way of destroying it 

 would be by pouring boiling water over it. The foliage of 

 this Grass is tender, and grateful to cattle, but never acquires 

 any great height; and is also liable to be killed by the winter's 

 frost and summer's drought. Mr. Stillingfleet "says, that it 

 makes the finest of turfs; that it is called in some parts 

 Suffolk Grass, there being whole fields of it in High Suffolk, 

 without any mixture of other Grasses, as it is thera thought to 

 be the best grass for the dairy. May or June is the best time 

 to gather the seed in the greatest abundance; but as a single 

 tuft of this Grass maybe divided into a vast number of plants, 

 and as they grow with wonderful facility, an experiment, on a, 

 small scale at least, might be tried with it by transplanting 

 it in moist weather. This species of Grass appears to be 

 one of the first general coverings which nature has provided 

 for earth made bare from any cause; hence it is frequent on 

 the edges of paths, where its seeds being scattered, quickly 

 vegetate, and the plants, not being overpowered by more 

 luxuriant herbage, continue to flourish ; this gave occasion 

 to Mr. Stillingfleet to suppose that this Grass thrived the 

 more for being trodden on; but this supposition is certainly 

 incorrect. 



18. Poa Flava; Yellow Meadow Grass. Panicle diffused; 

 spikelets ovate, oblong, shining. Native of Virginia. 



19. Poa Barbata; Bearded Meadow Grass. Panicle 

 spreading, capillary; spikelets six-flowered, oblong; glumes 

 smooth-keeled. Root annual, in bundles of fibres; culm 



