90 THE GRASSES— S.-S. MEADOW GRASS. 



Smooth-Stalked Meadow Grass. 



{Poa pratensifS.) 

 (Known in America as Blue Grass.) 



Germination. — According to Dr. Stebler, good seed 

 should have 95 per cent, of pure seeds, and 50 per cent, 

 of those should germinate. 



The root is creeping ; flowers acute, and more or less 

 copiously webbed ; the lower palea 5-veined ; the inter- 

 mediate veins, and sometimes the marginal ones, are 

 liable to be obscure and inconspicuous; the middle 

 and marginal veins are hairy. 



CuETis says it has a root which creeps like the 

 Couch grass, and is almost as difiicult to extirpate. It 

 ought therefore to be cautiously introduced where the 

 pasturage is not intended to be permanent. As it only 

 throws up flower-stems once in a season (in May), it 

 should be suitable for lawns and grass plots. 



Dr. Paenell says that, although it is called Smooth- 

 stalked Meadow grass, this characteristic cannot 

 always be depended on, as in some varieties of Foa 

 pratensis the sheaths are occasionally roughish, while 

 in Poa trivialis they are sometimes nearly smooth. It 

 is an early grass, producing a large quantity of herbage 

 which is liked by all cattle; but its creeping root is said 

 to impoverish the soil, and it is therefore not recom- 

 mended for cultivation. 



Sinclair says it cannot justify its claim to a place in 

 the composition of the best natural pastures, and on 

 this account it should be carefully avoided as an un- 

 profitable plant. 



