204 



BRITISH FLORA 



Alpine Poa (Poa alpina, L.) The habitat of 

 this species is rocks, lofty mountains. The plant 

 has the grass habit. It is smooth. The stout 

 rootstock is tufted and creeping. The stems are 

 stout, smooth, round in section, covered with the 

 sheaths of last year. The leaves are broad, firm, 

 the tip rounded, folded, short, stiff, rigid, keeled, 

 shortly blunt-pointed, the edges thick and rough, 

 the upper shorter than the sheath. The persistent 

 lower sheaths are white, broad, membranous, 

 leafless, the upper smooth, flattened. The long 

 ligule is pointed, torn, acute. The uppermost 

 node is exposed. The panicle is loose, pyramidal, 

 oblong, erect, spreading in flower, the branches 

 2-nate. The spikelets are green and purplish, 4-5 

 flowered, ovate, often viviparous. The flowering 

 glumes are 3-9, with a downy keel and margin, 

 with 3-5 obscure veins. The tips are membranous, 

 webbed, broad. The plant is 4-12 in. high, 

 flowering in July and August, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



Poa Balfouri, Parn. This grass is found on 

 hills in the north of England and Scotland. The 

 habit is creeping. The upper sheath is equal to 

 the leaf in length. The ligule is large, blunt. 

 The panicle is erect, spreading. The plant is 

 9-18 in. in height. It flowers in July and August, 

 and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Hard Fescue (Festuca rigida, Kunth = Schle- 

 rochloa rigida. Link). The habitat of this species 

 is dry rocks, walls, dry calcareous places. The 

 plant has the grass habit. The plant is often 



purplish in colour, smooth. The root is fibrous. 

 The stems are slender, wiry, erect. The leaves 

 are nearly flat or have the margin inrolled, and 

 are more or less bristle-like. The sheaths are 

 round and grooved, The ligule is oblong. The 

 panicle is lance-shaped, nearly simple, rigid, com- 

 pact, the branches distichous. The spikelets are 

 3-5, more or less stalkless, linear, with a narrow 

 point. The rachis is broadly channelled, rough 

 at the edge. The upper glumes reach as far as 

 the third floret. The flowering glumes are smooth, 

 shining, round, 7-10, acute, with faint nerves. 

 The flower-stalks are short, stout, half-round in 

 section. The plant is 3-6 in., flowering in June 

 and July, and is a herbaceous annual. 



Agropyron donianum, F. B. White =A. alpinum, 

 Don = T.biflorum, Brigh. Mitt. The habitat of 

 this species is mountain cliffs. The plant is erect, 

 and the leaves are thin and flat, with many slender 

 ribs. The panicle is close. The spikelets are 2-6- 

 flowered. The glumes have a short awn, and are 

 strongly 4-6-ribbed, the awn, ribs, edges, and tips 

 rough. The lower palea is narrowed abruptly, 

 and has membranous margins at the tips, 4-6- 

 ribbed, with an awn quarter to half its length. 

 The upper palea is blunt-pointed, densely fringed 

 with hairs on the lateral keels, densely rough with 

 a prominent midrib towards the tip, the lateral 

 ribs toothed at the tip, which fall short of the apex. 

 The axis is hair}', the rachis fringed with hairs. 

 The plant is 1-2 ft. high, flowering in July and 

 August, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



