THE GENERA AND THEIR SPECIES. 125 



83. procumbens 12 in. Procumbent Meadow Grass. Glume 

 with prominent lateral ribs. 



79. P. aquatica. Ponds and ditches, ranging throughout 

 the Northern Hemisphere. April to August. Root perennial, 

 fibres whorled, rootstock extensively creeping. Stem erect, 

 compressed, stout, striated, reed-like. Leaves flat, broad, stiff, 

 smooth, rough at edges and on keel, shoot flat, base of blade with 

 a brown triangular spot on each side, leaf and sheath with large 

 air cavities. Sheath with two acute edges, almost entire, nearly 

 smooth ; ligule short and blunt. Panicle erect, pyramidal, large, 

 spreading, repeatedly compound, half -whorled ; branches rough, 

 angular. Spikclets erect, ovate, upper broader than lower, florets 

 four to ten. Glumes nearly equal, thin, glossy, whitish. Outer 

 palea blunt, with five or seven ribs, central rib rough ; inner palea 

 shorter than outer palea, toothed at apex, punctate. 



This stately, reed-like, pale green grass, though seemingly so 

 rigid, is really very tender, a favourite with cattle and the best 

 of fodder for milch cows. In the fen districts and on small 

 islands and river meadows on the Thames and elsewhere it is 

 mown for hay. It does best on undrained clay soils, and its 

 long, dark brown seeds have to be sown in the mud. 



80. P. fiuitans. Ponds and slow-running water ; ranging 

 throughout the Northern Hemisphere. July and August. 

 Root perennial, creeping or partly floating. Stem weak, decum- 

 bent, stoutish, often floating, then ascending ; nodes numerous. 

 Leaves prominently ridged, long, linear, keeled, shoot flat, base 

 of blade with yellow triangular spot on each side, pale green. 

 Sheath keeled, long, compressed, striated, almost entire, nearly 

 smooth ; ligule short, pointed, toothed. Panicle simple, nearly 

 erect, long, close, narrow, rough, rather one-sided. Spikelets few, 

 long, slender, florets seven to twenty, variegated green and white. 

 Glumes unequal, small, blunt, with a green keel. Outer palea with 

 five ribs, middle one rough and pointed, three times longer than 

 broad ; inner palea small, flat, inflexed at edges, which are ribbed 

 with green, not punctate. Anthers five times as long as broad, 

 purple, yellow when empty. 



