144 New Plants of New England. 



Pba modesta (mihi) culm about a span high, branched 

 at the base, glabrous, leaves linear, scabrous above, sheaths 

 nearly glabrou€, ligiile conspicuous truncate, panicle strict 

 at length oblong 6-9 inches long, branches solitary, filiform, 

 branched, and as well as the rhachis scabrous ; spikelets 

 scattered on short foot-stalks, 2-flowered ; glumes unequal, 

 oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, erose, glabrous ; inferior floret 

 larger; sessile, lanceolate, keel of the inferior palea a little 

 scabrous towards the tip, — with a pedicel at its interior 

 base supporting another small floret ; seed ovate, fuscous. 

 Poa? unitiora, Muhl. Gram. p. 151. (exdescr.) Hab. Wet 

 margins of Fresh Pond Brook ; Cambridge. The specimen 

 of Muhlenberg, sent him, it would seem, from New Eng- 

 land, was imperfect, and he has mentioned the plant as 

 one-flowered. It seems a distinct species. In a large set 

 of specimens, I have seen no variation from the above 

 characters. 



Votaniogkon pulcher (mihi) — leaves all on foot-stalks ; 

 submersed leaves lanceolate, floating coriaceous ovate, 

 cordate, oftener longer than the foot-stalks ; nuts ventri- 

 cose, lunate, sharply keeled on the back. P. nutans, Pigcl. 

 Fl. Boston. Hab. Slow-flowing streams. Stoneham. Tl'he 

 character taken from the presence or absence of floating 

 (coriaceous) leaves is now considered accidental by several 

 investigators of these plants. Even P. lucens has been 

 found to occur with floating leaves. To this species, though 

 ordinarily so very different, our plant should perhaps be 

 considered nearest; as it possesses also the lunate-keeled 

 fruit which distinguish P. lucens and P. prselongusfrom 

 P. natans, &c. The fruit differs however from that of P. 

 lucens, and the beautifully cordate large floating leaves dis- 

 tinguish our species. 



P. Claytonn (mihi) submersed leaves, membranaceous, 

 long, narrow-lincar-undulate at the margins and very mi- 

 nutely spinulose-scabrous, scarcely attenuate at the base, 

 sessile ; floating leaves on rather short foot-stalks, oblong 

 or lanceolate, scarcely coriaceous (nerves conspicuous only 

 against the light), stem branched. P. fluitans, Bigel. Fl. 

 Bost. Hab. Slow flowing waters. Roxbury. Seems to 

 differ full as much from P. heterophyllus as from P. fliii- 

 tans. In a fine collection of the European species, there is 

 no one that presents the characters of our plant, which 

 seems to have been first noticed by Clayton. 



