POACEAE. 



33 



3. Poa nemoralis L. Wood Poa. (Fig. 

 49.) Culms .l°-4° tall, from rootstocks; 

 leaves smooth or rough, those of the stem 

 usually 3' or more long; panicle 3'-10' long, 

 the usually lax branches spreading or ascend- 

 ing, often flexuous, up to 3' long, dividing 

 and spikelet-bearing above the middle; 

 spikelets 2-3-flowered, li"-2" long, exceed- 

 ing their pedicels; scales acute, the empty 

 basal ones lanceolate, equal or the first a 

 little shorter; flowering scales linear in 

 side-view, webbed at the base, 5 -nerved, the 

 intermediate nerves rather obscure, the mid- 

 nerve and lateral nerves pubescent below the 

 middle, but not so copiously as in Poa pra- 

 tensis. 



Collected by F, S. Collins at Flatt's, 1913. 

 Introduced. Native of Europe. Introduced as 

 a waif in the eastern United States. Flowers 

 in summer. 



22. SCLEROPOA Griseb. 



Low, annual, tufted, glabrous grasses, with narrow, flat leaf-blades, and 

 several-many-flowered compressed spikelets in narrow panicles, the panicle- 

 branches short and stiff. Spikelets with 2 empty lower scales, the flowering 

 scales 5-nerved, rounded on the back. Stigmas borne near the apex of the 

 ovary. Grain linear-oblong, obtuse. [Greek, hard Poa.] Two species of the 

 Mediterranean region, the following typical. 



1. Scleropoa rigida (L.) Griseb. 

 Hard Grass. (Fig. 50.) Some- 

 what glaucous; culms several, 

 erect or ascending, 3-18' high. 

 Leaves narrowly linear, 2'-4' long, 

 about IV' wide, acuminate, the 

 short ligule lacerate; panicle V- 

 3^' long, its branches 4"-8" long, 

 spreading or ascending; spikelets 

 2"-3" long, 5-11 -flowered. [Poa 

 rigida L. ; Sclerochloa rigida 

 Beauv.; Festuca rigida Kunth.] 



In waste grounds, and on walls 

 and hillsides. Naturalized from 

 southern Europe. Flowers from 

 spring to autumn. Introduced into 

 the southern United States. 



