240 On the Grasses. [May, 



PoA Obtusa, Muhl. 



Panicle contracted; spikelets ovate, obtuse, about five flowered, 

 not webbed at the base; glumes unequal, small, acute or obtuse; 

 palea nearly equal, ovate, obtuse, smooth, slightly nerved. — Muhl. 

 Gram., p. 147. Culm erect, twelve to eighteen inches high; 

 leaves of the culm six to ten inches long, and two to four lines 

 wide, often revolute, smooth; spikelets numerous on capillary 

 branches, in a close contracted panicle; caryopsis oblong, ovate. 



Grows in wet places, and on the border of ponds in Pennsyl- 

 vania, New Jersey and New England. It flowers in August and 

 September. Muhlenburg remarks that it is " honum pabulum," 

 or a good food. 



PoA Maritima, Hubs. 



Panicle slightly branched, contracted; spikelets oblong terite, 

 about five flowered; flowers rather obtuse, at length loose, slight- 

 ly nerved. — Huds., aug., 42; Poa arenaria, Retz. Stem erect, 

 about eighteen inches high; leaves small, narrow, and w^ith the 

 stem smooth; glumes unequal, obtuse; palea nearly equal, slight- 

 ly obtuse. 



Salt marshes near the sea-coast of New England. It is also a 

 native of Europe. 



* * * AcHEROPus, Trin. 



Spikelets in a contracted spikelike panicle; lower palea coria- 

 ceous, many nerved, not keeled, nerves not prominent, margin 

 membranaceous. 



Poa Michauxii, Kunth. — Spiked Salt-marsh Poa. 



Panicle contracted, spiked; spikelets ovate oblong or ovate, 

 smooth, five to ten flowered ; leaves distichous, involute, spread- 

 ing, rigid. — Kunth'' s " Gram., 2, p. 533," {not of Linn.;) U7iiola 

 spicata Linn., sp. 1, p. 71; " U. distichifolia Roem. and Schult., 

 sy. s. 2, p. 596, {not of Lahill;") Festuca distichifolia Michx., 

 fl. 1, p. 67; Briza. spicata Lam. Enc, 1, p. 405; Brizopyrum 

 spicatum Hook, and Jlrnott. Culm erect, about afoot high; root 

 creeping, perennial; glumes unequal, lower one acute, upper one 

 rather obtuse; stamens three, anthers vary in color from purple 

 to white. 



Grows in marshes along the sea-coast, from Massachusetts to 

 South Carolina. 



PoA Debilis, Torr. — Weak Meadow Grass. 



Panicle loose, few flowered, somewhat spreading, the branches 

 mostly in pairs, flexuous; spikelets ovate, obtuse, two to three 



