THE HILL GRASSES 



579 



of an inch long, has the glumes awned, 

 forming something of a bristly head. 

 It is a perennial plant, but flowers, 

 however, only in Jul\\ 



In a previous article on the Ha}^- 

 field Grasses, mention was made of 

 Poa Annua, the Annual Meadow Grass, 

 there was, however, no illustration of it. 

 Of the same family, but distinct in 

 appearance, is the Alpine Meadow Grass. 

 Poa Alpina. It is a tufted species found 

 in high mountain districts, and has rather 

 short, broad leaves, bluntly tipped. The 

 stem growth is somewhat bent at the base 

 — an emergence from the creeping habit 

 of growth towards the vertical, and 

 common to many varieties — with a leaf- 

 sheath swollen at the juncture with the 

 root. In Poa Annua we are familiar with 

 the obviously triangular shape of the flower 

 panicle, a three-inch of height equalled 

 by its breadth, the glumes a clear bright 

 green. But in Poa Alpina, a perennial 

 species, there is a departure in form to a 

 more elongated panicle, which branches 

 into pairs of spikelets from the stem. 

 In the right-hand stem of the illustration, 

 that is shortened above the node, the 

 rounded character of the blade is weU 

 shown, how the edges re-curve upon 

 itself the whole length from the juncture 

 with the hgule to the blunted tip. In the 

 central example of the group the tufted 

 growth is also exhibited, a series of blades 

 springing out all round the lower portion 

 of the most interior blade during its 

 upward growth. 



The Downy Oat belongs to the high, 

 chalky land, although it attains two feet 

 of growth. Avena pubescens at once 



reminds us of the Common False Oat, pre- 

 viously mentioned, although the latter is 

 botanically removed from the family of 

 Avena, Siive in the sub-title of Avenaceum. 

 Comparing the two, we notice that the 

 flowering spike is more contracted, a 

 simpler arrangement, save in the lower 

 group of branchlets, as illustrated in the 

 right-hand specimen of the two ; much 

 of the upper length expresses the glumes 

 almost without branches at all. 



The radical leaves are distinctly downy, 

 whilst the ligule is sharply pointed ; this is 

 well shown on the extreme right-hand 

 stem of the group. The bent, twisted 

 awn is characteristic of both these varieties. 



In the illustration on the left hand of 

 the group, we clearly see the working 

 principle of the grass-anatomy, as one 

 may term it — that of the outward exten- 

 sion from within of layers, or laniincB of 

 blades, superimposed upon each other. 

 There are two sheatliing layers overlying 

 the third inner layer, or separated blade, 

 which finally escapes into freedom as the 

 others themselves bend outwards into 

 freedom, afterwards aspiring to consider- 

 able height. This elaboration of layers 

 seems to be the method of expression of 

 the grasses' green life-spring of force 

 always weUing up from the rootstock. 



In the smallest of starved grasses there 

 is the infinite mystery of capacity for pro- 

 jecting one series of cells into the form of 

 radical blades, and another into that of 

 the complex flowering stem and all its 

 sections ; for there is no true apprehension 

 of the matter, and the word mystery, or 

 miracle, only is appropriate. 



Maud U. Clarke. 



