﻿GRASSES OF SCOTLAND. 87 



root is perennial, extensively creeping, throwing out stems from the 

 lower joints. Stem erect, procumbent at the base, compressed, slight- 

 ly roughish, bearing four or five leaves with somewhat roughish 

 sheaths ; the upper sheath rather shorter than its leaf, crowned with a 

 conspicuous obtuse ligule (Fig. 5) ; second sheath extending beyond the 

 first joint. Joints four, smooth, the upper joint about half-way up the 

 stem. Leaves mostly all on the stem, flat, linear-lanceolate, taper- 

 pointed, roughish on the edges and both surfaces, but more so on the 

 inner surface ; the lower leaves mostly withered. Inflorescence ra- 

 cemed or panicled. Panicle erect, close, slender ; the branches 

 rough, long, and slender, the lower ones single or in pairs. Spikelets 

 few, erect, lanceolate-ovate, of two or three awnless florets ; the sum- 

 mit of the lowermost floret not projecting beyond the large glume of 

 the calyx. Calyx of two unequal acute glumes (Fig. 1), three-rib- 

 bed, dorsal rib minutely toothed on the upper part. Florets not web- 

 bed; of two palese (Fig. 2) ; the outer palea of lowermost floret five- 

 ribbed (Fig. 4); the lower half of the dorsal and marginal ribs 

 hairy, the intermediate ribs not hairy and rather indistinct. Inner 

 palea about one-fourth shorter than the outer palea, membranous, with 

 two green marginal ribs minutely fringed. The whole plant glau- 

 cous. 



Obs. — Poa montana is closely allied to Poa polynoda, but differs 

 from it in the panicle being long and slender. The dorsal rib of outer 

 palea much more hairy, and the second sheath extending beyond the 

 first joint; — whereas in P. -polynoda the panicle is short and contract- 

 ed ; the dorsal rib of outer palea but slightly hairy, and the second 

 sheath not extending to the first joint. (See Plate XXXIX.) 



From Poa casia, (independent of the form of the panicle), in the 

 upper joint being situated about the centre of the stem ; the root ex- 

 tensively creeping, and the summit of the lower floret not protruding 

 beyond the large glume ; — whereas in P. c&sia the upper joint is very 

 near the base ; the root is fibrous and not creeping, and the summit 

 of the lower floret protrudes beyond the calyx. (See Plate XL.) 



From Poa nemoralis, in the florets not being webbed ; the liyules 

 very conspicuous ; the second sheath extending beyond the first joint; 

 — whereas in P. nemoralis the lower florets are distinctly webbed, sus- 



