186 



Poa alp 



Alpine Meadow-g 



difFused, 4-11 flowered, cordate; florets, acute, free; slieath- 



scale oblong, acute; leaves short, obtuse, pointed; root fibrous. 

 0^5.— Root-leaves numerous, flat, widish, nerved, smooth, especially underneath, bluntish 

 at the end, with a little dagger point ; rugged at the edges, with short erect compressed 

 sheaths, and a short blunt stipula. Culms from three to twelve inches high, ascending, a 

 little compressed. Panicle short, roundish. Spikets ovate compressed, shining with pur- 

 ple. Florets silky at the edges, but not, as in the Poa pratensis, connected by compli- 

 cated hairs, or by a web. E. Bot. t. 1003; Host. ii. p. 49, t. 67, left hand figure; Curtis; 



Flo. Dan. t. 807. 

 Native of Britain, Root perennial. 

 Experiments.— Al the time of flowering, the produce from a light sandy loam, is, 



dr. qr. 



oz. 



25 

 40 



Grass, 8 oz. The produce per acre 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry 



The produce of the space, ditto 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 



64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 



The produce of the space, ditto 



87120 



lbs. 



5445 



27225 



1701 9 



3743 7 



12) 

 3 0) 



2041 14 



127 9 14 



The produce of this grass appears, from these experiments, to be equal to that of the Alope- 

 cmms alpinus, and its nutritive powers greater; but not sufficiently great to render it au ohject 

 for the Farmer s particular consideration. It is chiefly confined to alpine regions. It grows 

 wild in Scotland and Wales, afso in Lapland, Switzerland, and Silesia. 



r 



Botanists inform us, that mountainous countries are furnished with a much greater variety 

 of plants than flat countries; and that in primitive mountains, the number of different species of 

 plants exceeds that of the floetz mountains. If we compare the alpine grasses with those that 

 inhabit the valleys, the shades of dissimilarity will be found very slight in every point, except 

 what arises from size ; and the discriminating characters are therefore, in such instances, often 

 minute. 



L 



I 



Let the Poa alpina be compared with the Poa aquatica and Poa pratensis, and it will afford 

 an example of this. The Alopecurus alp'mus, and the Alopecunis pratensis, are less dissimilar in 

 structure than the Alopecurus geniculatus and Alopecurm pratensis, though the two last inhabit 

 the plain. The Aira montana, and the Aira aquatica, may serve as another instance for com- 

 parison. The numerous evidences of this kind, which plants of every class have offered, have 

 led to the opi^nion, that the primitive mountains were the sources from which the plains, formed 

 at a later period, were furnished with plants. 



The Alpine Meadow-grass flowers about the third week of May, and during the rest of the 

 summer, and the seed ripens about the latter end of June, and successively, according as the 

 grass produces flowers. Hares and rabbits are remarkably fond of this grass, and snails devour 

 the flowering spikets of the panicle ; it requires therefore much care and attention to obtain 

 either seed or perfect specimens of the flowers. 



