266 



BRITISH GRASSES. 



5. Poa procumbens, Curt. Procumbent Poa. 



Root annual; stem decumbent, round, smooth, slender, 

 from six inches to a foot in length; leaves flat, ribbed, 

 rough on the inner surface, smooth behind, acute; upper 

 sheath longer than its leaf; panicle lanceolate, dense, turned 

 one way, compound; rachis and branches rough, round, 

 never deflexed ; spikelets linear, cylindrical, containing 

 about five florets ; outer glumes very small indeed ; flower- 

 ing glumes five-ribbed, the central rib extending beyond the 

 blunt summit, hairy at the base, palea very narrow, fringed. 



The compact narrow panicles of this grass ; its lower 



growth, decumbent habit, 

 and the greater preponder- 

 ance of foliage distinguish 

 it from P. maritima. It 

 grows in waste places in 

 maritime situations, prefer- 

 ring sand to mud. It has 

 no beauty to boast, nor any 

 ascertained agricultural use. 

 It is found in most of the 

 English counties that lie on 

 the coast, but is rare in 

 Scotland and Ireland. A- 

 broad it is indigenous in 



Germany and France, and in all countries from the 



Spanish peninsula to Holland. 



It flowers late in June and through July, and seeds 



in August. 



P. Borreri, as described by Dr. Parnell, is probably a 



variety of this species. It has smaller but broader 



spikelets, is rigid in its habit, both the rachis and its 



