70 



our sea-coasts, arriving thither from warmer shores, instead of de- 

 scending from its surmised relative so plentifully distributed on the 

 British mountains. 



PoA LAXA. Wavy Meadow Grass. Plate LVII. 



Panicle slightly drooping, more or less compact. Spikelets ob- 

 long-ovate, three- or four-flowered ; flowers acute, connected by a 

 web. Lower palea five-veined j the dorsal and marginal veins 

 silky. Upper leaf folded and slightly incurved, but tapering, 

 much shorter than its sheath ; its ligule long and acute. 



Poa laxa, Haenke. Lindley. Hooker and Arnott. Poa minor, 

 Gaudin. Babington. P. flexuosa, E. B. 1123; ed. 2. 127. 



A native of the higher mountains of Scotland, where it was first 

 observed by Mr. J. Mackay, who gathered it on Ben Nevis, and 

 afterwards found by Mr. G. Don, Dr. Graham, and others on Loch- 

 na-Gar and the Clova Mountains. Tufted or very slightly creeping, 

 more or less glaucous. Stems slender, weak, six inches to a foot 

 in height. Leaves flat, linear, acuminated, more numerous and 

 narrower than those of the ordinary P. alpina. Panicle rather 

 loose, though occasionally somewhat compact, scarcely drooping at 

 the upper part, one to two inches long. Spikelets with about 

 three flowers ; the glumes more pointed than in most plants of this 

 genus. Flowers webbed at the base. Lower palea five- veined; 

 the dorsal and marginal veins silky, the intermediate ones smooth 

 and indistinct. 



Perennial. Flowers in July and August. 



Poa minor. Lesser Mountain Meadow Grass. 



Panicle shghtly drooping. Spikelets oblong-ovate, three- or four- 

 flowered; flowers free (unconnected by a web). Lower palea with 

 three silky veins (no intermediate ones) . Upper leaf flat and taper- 

 pointed. Ligules all long, acute. 



Poa laxa, Babington. Parnell. Bentham. P. laxa /3, Hooker and 

 Arnott. 



Found in the same habitats as the preceding, from which, indeed, 

 it is not easily distinguishable, unless by the flowers not being 

 webbed,— a feature of very equivocal importance, as instances occur 

 of its occasional deficiency in some of the flowers of a spikelet 

 while others possess it, in those grasses of which its presence is 

 assumed to be a leading characteristic. 



In the ' British Flora ' of Messrs. Hooker and Arnott, P. laxa and 

 P. minor are regarded as varieties of the same species. Mr. Babing- 



