610 THE GEASS FAMILY, 



short, the ligula of the upper ones promment and acute. Panicle ovoid or 

 oblong, spike-like or scarcely spreadmg, not much above an inch long. 

 SjDikelets ovate, 3- or 4-floTrered. Flowering glumes about a line long or 

 rather more, pointed and keeled; the lateral nerves not prominent, witli 

 minute sUky hairs on the keel and edges, and a fevr short woolly ones at 

 their base on the axis of the spikelet. 



In dry waste places, on roadsides, etc., especially near the sea, in tem- 

 perate and southern Em-ope, and across Russian Asia, extending northwards 

 into southei-n Scandinavia. In Britain, chiefly near the sea, in the southern 

 and eastern counties of England, but not recorded from Ireland or Scotland. 

 Fl. spring. 



XXXVI. CATABROSE. CATAEROSA. 



A single species, closely allied to Poa, but the spikelets have usually only 

 2 flowers, the glumes broad and truncate at the top or shghtly jagged. 



1. ^Vater Catabrose. Catabrosa aquatica, Beauv. 

 {Aira, Eng. Bot. t. 1557.) 



A glabrous, tender, pale-green perennial ; the stems procumbent, and 

 creeping or floating at the base, rooting at the nodes, and often 2 or 3 feet 

 long; the flowering branches erect. Leaves short, flat, and flaccid. Pani- 

 cle 4 to 6 inches long, consistmg of many sets of half-whorled, unequal, 

 slender, and spreading branches. Spikelets 1 to near 2 lines long. Outer- 

 most glume very short and small, the second larger, broad, and truncate at 

 the top like the flowering ones, but much shorter : these are scarious, and 

 slightly toothed or jagged at tlie top, with very prominent ribs. Paleas 

 similar but rather smaller, with only 2 ribs. 



In shallow pools, and ditches, in Europe and Russian Asia, from the 

 Mediterranean to the Arctic regions. Generally, although tliinly, scattered 

 over Britain. Fl. early summer. 



XXXVII. MOLINIA. MOLINIA. 



A single species, very near Poa and Fescue, differing from the former in 

 the much more pouited glumes, fr5m Fescue in the smaller and rather less 

 flattened spikelets. There is also, at the base of the palea of the uppermost 

 flower, a small, bristle-Hke appendage, being a conti:mation of the axis of the 

 spikelet, and bearing sometimes the rudiment of another flower, although 

 less conspicuous than in Melick. This rudimentary terminal flower may 

 however be occasionally observed in most of the aUied genera. 



1. Purple Molinia. Molinia cserulea, Mcench. 

 {Melica, Eng. Bot. t. 750.) 

 A rather coarse, stiff perennial, often 3 feet high, with the leaves chiefly 

 radical, forming large tufts, long and flat, rather stiff, and slightly hairy on 

 the upper side. Panicle narrow but loose, 6 inches to above a foot long, 

 green or purplish ; the branches erect or scarcely spreading. Spikelets 

 erect, narrow and pointed, 2 to 4 lines long, usually with about 3 flowers. 

 Glumes acute, the outer ones shorter than the flowering ones, and rather 

 unequal. 



