﻿102 GRASSES OF SCOTLAND. 



It differs from Catabrosa aquatica, with which it has occasionally 

 been confounded, in the branches of the panicle being rough to the 

 touch ; spikelets of four to eight florets ; — whereas in C. aquatica the 

 branches are perfectly smooth, and the spikelets never contain more 

 than two florets, independent of many other characters. 



Mr Sinclair informs us that this grass contains more nutritive 

 matter at the time of flowering than at the time the seed is ripe, in 

 the proportion of 19 to 17 ; and that it contains a greater proportion 

 of sugar than exists in any of the superior pasture grasses. It grows 

 naturally in wet places on the banks of rivers, streams, and margins 

 of ponds, and is recommended for cultivation in those low flat situa- 

 tions which do not admit of being sufficiently drained. On the banks 

 and little islands of the Thames, where this grass is generally mown 

 twice in the year for hay, it affords abundant crops of valuable winter 

 fodder, which cows and horses are fond of. 



Poa aquatica is found in Dumbarton, Perth, Forfar, and near 

 Edinburgh ; occasionally in Ireland. In England, in the counties 

 of Northumberland, Durham, York, Notts, Cheshire, Worcester, 

 Glo'ster, ^Warwick, Leicester, Oxon, Beds, Cambridge, Norfolk, 

 Suffolk, Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Somerset, and Devon ; 

 also a native of Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, 

 and North America. 



Flowers in the second week of July, and ripens its seed in the mid- 

 dle of August. 



68. Poa fluitans.* 

 Floating Meadow- Grass. 



Specific Characters. — Florets not webbed. Spikelets long and li- 

 near. Outer palea seven-ribbed. (Plate XLV.) 



Description. — It grows from fifteen inches to two feet high. The 

 root is perennial, creeping. Stem erect, round, and smooth, the lower 

 part decumbent ; bearing six or seven leaves with roughish, finely 

 striated sheaths ; the upper sheath longer than its leaf, crowned with 



* Poa fluitans, Hooker, Greville. Gflyceria fluitwis, Smith, Lindley. Festuca fluitans, 

 Linn. 



