1847.] On the Grasses. 241 



flowered, flowers webbed at the base; lower palea oblong, obtuse, 

 slightly three nerved; leaves and sheaths smooth, ligule oblong, 

 acute. — To7T., Jl. S. JY. Y., 2, p. 459. Perennial, culm one to 

 two feet high, erect, slender, terete, smooth; leaves generally two 

 to three inches long, and about two lines wide, very acute and 

 somewhat pungent. 



The weak meadow grass is quite common in woods and along 

 the shady banks of streams of the Northern and Western counties 

 of the State of New York. It is a new species, lately described 

 by Dr. Torrey, in the New York State Flora. It has been con- 

 founded with Poa pungens, by some botanists; from which it dif- 

 fers in its smoother and more obtuse spikelets, which are also 

 fewer flowered. Its radical leaves are procumbent and short, 

 while those of the Poa pungens are erect, and often six to eight 

 inches long. It flowers in May. 



Poa Ciliaris. 



Culms cespitose, procumbent; panicles terminal and axillary, 

 glomerate and somewhat compressed; spikelets broadly ovate, 

 oblong, obtuse; eight to twelve flowered; glumes unequal, smooth, 

 acute; palea nearly equal, rather obtuse, the lower ones shortest, 

 keeled, margin of upper palea very ciliate; throat of the sheaths 

 ciliate; leaves about three lines wide, very acute, smooth; culms 

 about twelve inches long. Flowers in June, July. 



Grows on the dry road-sides at Allenton, in Wilcox county, 

 Alabama, where it has been apparently introduced. We have not 

 met with it elsewhere in the United States. 



Glyceria Acutifolia, Torr. 



Panicle elongated simple, appressed; spikelets linear-terete, 

 four to twelve flowered; florets attenuated, acute, indistinctly 

 nerved; leaves short, erect, (Torr., Jl. 1, p. 104;) festuca brevi- 

 folia, {Muhl. Gram., p. 167;) culm about eighteen inches high, 

 somewhat compressed; leaves smooth, four to six inches long; 

 ligule elongated; panicle slightly nodding, the lower part con- 

 cealed in the sheath of the upper leaf; glumes unequal; lower 

 palea lanceolate, attenuate, and very acute, shorter than the upper 

 palea; caryopsis oblong grooved on the upper side. 



Habit similar to the preceding species, from which it is easily 

 distinguished by its acute flowers and nerveless palea. It seems 

 to be rare in Western New York, but is found near Troy and in 

 the vicinity of New York city. It also grows in some parts of 

 Massachusetts, Delaware and Maryland. From its resemblance 

 to the preceding, we should judge that it would be readily eaten 

 by all kinds of stock. 



