260 



BRITISH GRASSES. 



rather tender and succulent. "When in flower it contains 

 a good proportion of nutritious matter, which decreases 



gradually when the flowers 

 are past. On the banks of 

 little islands in the Thames 

 and in marsh land it is mown 

 for hay, and is much liked 

 by cattle. It is frequent in 

 England and Ireland, but 

 rare in Scotland. It forms 

 a welcome shelter for the 

 moor-hens and other water- 

 fowl, and on the banks of 

 such rivers as the Wye it is 

 not uncommon, on a sum- 

 mer's day, to see a careful 

 mother-bird glide from a- 

 mong the tall Reed Poa 

 stems followed by her tiny 

 brood of moor-chicks, and dabble about in the shallow 

 water, until some unusual noise alarms them, and drives 

 them back to their grassy hiding-place. 



Its foreign homes are Norway, Sweden, Germany, 

 France, Italy, Russia, and North America. 



2. Poa fkdtans. Scop. Floating Poa, 



(Glyceria fluitans and G. plicata, Bab. Man.) 



Root perennial, creeping extensively; stems weak, suc- 

 culent, spreading widely, often floating with their lower 

 leaves on the still surface of the water, from fifteen inches 

 to two feet long ; joints numerous ; leaves long, linear, 

 roughish on both surfaces, the radical ones flat, those of the 

 stem folded; sheaths long, compressed, striated, smooth; 



