POA. 



285 



longer than its leaf; ligule prominent and acute; panicle 

 oblong, spike-like, or slightly spreading, only a little more 

 than an inch long ; raehis somewhat zigzag, branches rough, 

 alternate, generally in pairs; spikelets ovate, green or 

 purplish, three- or four-flowered ; outer glumes equal, three- 

 ribbed, pointed, keeled; the keels toothed on the upper 

 part, webbed ; flowering glumes also pointed and keeled, 

 five-ribbed, the central and marginal ribs hairy, the inter- 

 mediate ones naked ; palea small, white, pointed, edged with 

 a green rib, and fringed. 



We find this grass only on sandy seacoasts. The 

 plants begin to grow early in the spring and flower in 

 April and May, at that time 

 yielding an abundance of 

 short sweet herbage, and 

 afford a welcome meal for 

 cattle. Mr. Sole declares 

 this species to have all the 

 good qualities possessed by 

 Poa pratensis, as far as its 

 size permits, and recom- 

 mends it highly for hilly dry 

 grounds, where it loves to 

 grow. The plants form young 

 bulbs during the summer, which are blown about among 

 drifting sand for weeks, but when the autumn rains fall 

 the bulbs settle themselves and presently take root and 

 begin to put forth leaves ; they root themselves deeply 

 in the sand, otherwise they would be liable to be blow r n 

 about as their solitary bulbs were, and are ready with 

 their dense tufts of foliage in the spring, and their early 

 panicles of purplish spikelets glistening with silverysheen. 

 In their natural state the stems only grow about six 



