130 



THE GENERA AND THEIR SPECIES. 



the soil. Stems several, erect, smooth, rather stout, branched 



at base. Leaves folded in bud, radical leaves short, shoot flat 



with rounded edges, blade fiat, linear, 



broadish, rounded at base and apex, 



ribless, with yellow median lines. 



Sheaths long, slightly tumid, almost 



entire ; ligule short, rounded, broader 



than long. Panicle loose, pyramidal, 



spreading, slightly unilateral, branches 



generally smooth. Spikelets ovate, 



compressed, florets three or four, 



glossy, webbed. Glumes nearly equal, 



lanceolate, webbed, ribs three. Outer 



palea pale brown, longer than glumes, 



acute, keeled, ribs four or five, of 



which three are hairy, webbed ; inner palea hyaline, short and 



bifid. 



Spikelet, 



Paa pratensis. 

 For Floret see p. 56. 



Varieties — 

 P. planicularis, 



P. arenaria. 

 P. retro flex a. 



P. sub-ccerulea. 

 P. arida. 



Stem flat ; leaves broad and short ; dark 

 green. 



Outer palea with seven ribs ; glaucous. 



Lower branches of panicle deflexed ; pale 

 green. 



Stem round ; leaves broad and short. 



Uppermost leaf erect and as high as apex 

 panicle. 



This is a good, early meadow grass, well adapted for parks and 

 lawns, yielding a fair hay crop and an excellent aftermath. 

 After midsummer it grows more slowly but still steadily, and goes 

 on steadily even during frost, but it rarely sends up flowering 

 stems after the first are cropped. It thrives on dry light soils, 

 and when seeds are mixed for sowing a permanent pasture it 

 generally forms a twentieth (by weight) of the mixture. In New 

 Zealand this species becomes as luxuriantly stoloniferous as couch. 



