236 On the Grasses. [May, 



Moist rocky places, and in the woods of Western New York; 

 also in Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Georgia. Cattle and 

 sheep are fond of it; but it grows sparingly in our woodlands, 

 with a weak, slender culm. Flowers April, May. 



PoA. Laxa, Flaenke. — Few-Flowered Alpine Meadow Grass. 



Culm erect, cespitose, six to eight inches high, leaves setaceous 

 or narrow linear, smooth; panicle contracted; branches flexuose, 

 in twos or threes; spikelets ovate, pubescent, about three flower- 

 ed; glumes lanceolate, subequal, slightly scabrous on the keel; 

 lower palea ovate, somewhat obtuse, hairy at the base; upper 

 palea very narrow, rough on the margin. 



Grows on the mountains of Europe, and on Mount Marcy, in 

 the State of New York. 



PoA Nemoralis, Linn. — Wood Meadow Grass. 



Panicle spreading, branches capillary, scabrous, three to five 

 together; spikelets, two to five flowered, lanceolate, or lanceolate 

 ovate, flowers racemose, distant; glumes unequal, palea lanceolate 

 smooth on the sides, scarious on the margins, hairy near the base; 

 root perennial, culm one to two feet high. Flowers May, June. 



Grows in the woods of Yates county, and probably in most of 

 the counties in the western part of New York. It has been found 

 as far west as Kentucky, and is also a native of Europe. Sinclair 

 recommends a variety of this species, which he names Poa nemo- 

 ralis, var. augustifolia; remarking, that, " although the produce 

 is inconsiderable compared to that of many others equally nutri- 

 ent; yet the early growth of this grass in the spring, and its re- 

 markably fine, succulent and nutritive herbage, recommend it 

 strongly for admission into the company of the superior perma- 

 nent pasture grasses. Flowers May, June. 



Poa Serotina, Ehrh. — Red Top — Late Flowering Meadow 

 Grass. 



Panicle diffuse, elongated ; branches verticillate in fives or sixes; 

 spikelets ovate, lanceolate, accuminate; three to four flowered, 

 tinged with yellow at the apex; glumes oblong lanceolate, very 

 acute; palea lanceolate, somewhat obtuse, yellowish at the tip, 

 pubescent at the base; culm two to three feet high; leaves smooth; 

 those of the culm three to four lines wide, four to five inches long; 

 root perennial. — Ehrh. Gram., 82; Derby. Bot., gal. 1, p. 523; 

 Beck, Bot., p. 410; Torr., fl. S. JY. Y., 2, p. 458; P. palustris 

 FL, fr. 3, p. 60, et 5, p. 272, {not Linn.); Muhl. Gram., p. 150; 

 P. fertilis " Host. Gram., 3, p. 10, t. 14;" P. crocata Mich., Jl. 

 1, p. 680. Flowers July. 



