304 



F 



JPoa annua. Annual Meadow-grass^ Suffolk-grass. 



^ 



Specific character: Panicle divaricate; spikets ovate; florets somewhat remote fi 



free; culms oblique, compressed. Flo. Rust. t. 8; Engl. Bot. t. 1141. Huds A ^ /q 

 Curt. Lond. 1. t. 6; Wither. ' • "g • 5 



Obs, — The Poa annua is distinguished from the Poa trivialis by its general habit its A' 



panicle, and reclining culms; by its smoothness, greater softness, and delicacy- fro P 

 pratensis, by having the branches in pairs, its panicle more thinly set, and its spikets 1 

 from both, by its inferior size, compressed culms, and annual root. Martyn. 



Experiments. — ^About the middle of June, the produce from a rich black loam is 



Grass, 8 6z. 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 



dr. qr. 



02. 



87120 



lbs. 



5445 







28 

 44 3\ 



30492 



1905 12 

 S5S9 4 



^ 



2 2 

 5 



3403 2 



212 11 2 



This, though a diminutive annual plant, is the most troublesome weed that infests gravel 

 walks, stone pitchings, and the like. It continues to flower and produce seed all the spring, 

 summer, autumn, and even sometimes in the winter months. The seed is perfected in a shorter 

 space of time than that of any other species of grass, or of any plant with which I am acquainted. 

 It will produce flowers and seeds when it cannot attain to more than an inch in height, from the 

 soil being in the next degree to absolute sterility. 



Mr. StiUingfleet informs us*, that in some parts it is called Suffolk-grass, there being whole 

 fields of it in High Suffolk, without any mixture of other grasses; and he expresses an opinion, 

 that it is likely to be the best grass for the dairy. But the diminutive size of the plant renderl 

 its cultivation unprofitable, compared to that of any other of the pasture grasses; and besides, it 

 IS an annual, which, though it continues to produce flowering culms during most part of the 

 year, nevertheless is soon injured by frost, and often killed by a continuance of dry weather. 

 How to extirpate it, therefore, is the point of most importance to be ascertained. Some recom- 

 mend boiling water to be poured on the stone pitchings where it abounds ; but the most effec- 

 tual mode is to cover the spot with a layer of litter, or the mowings of the lawn, in sufficient 

 thickness to create fermentation. On removing this, in the course of ten days or a fortnight, the 

 Poa annua, and most other weeds in the pitching, will be found completely destroyed. 



It flowers and ripens the seed throughout the summer. 



* Tracts, page 383. 



