77 



PoA Balfouuii. Balfour's Meadow Grass. Plate LXII. 



Panicle erect, rather spreading. Spikelets ovate, three- or 

 four-flowered ; flowers webbed at the base. Lower palea five- 

 veined ; the central and marginal veins hairy, intermediate^ones in- 

 distinct. Uppermost sheath about as long as its leaf. Uppermost 

 knot in the lower third of the stem. Ligule prominent, obtuse. 



Poa Balfourii, Parnell. Babington. E. B. Supp. 4. 2918. Poa 

 nemoralis, s. Hooker and Arnott. Bent ham. 



Professor Balfour of Edinburgh was the flrst observer of this 

 Grass, which he found growing on Ben Voirlich, near the head of 

 Loch Lomond. It has since been recognized as not at all unfre- 

 quent in the other parts of the Highlands of Scotland, as well as 

 about the more elevated mountainous districts of the north of 

 England and elsewhere. The root is described as creeping, but 

 I have not seen any specimens presenting such a character, or at 

 least more approaching to it than is observable in that of P- ne- 

 moralis. Stems usually ascending, from- three to fifteen inches 

 high, rigid, compressed, very slightly rough ; bearing three or 

 four leaves with roughish sheaths, the uppermost of the latter 

 being about the length of its leaf. The knots are so situated as to 

 occupy only the lower third of the stem, and the uppermost one is 

 but rarely exposed, all of them being generally covered by the 

 sheath next below them. Ligule prominent, obtuse. Inflores- 

 cence less compound than in the ordinary forms of P. nemoralis, 

 erect, one to three inches long ; branches more or less spreading, 

 short, rough, the lower ones usually in pairs. Spikelets erect, 

 ovate, two- to four-flowered ; the lower flower as long as the larger 

 glume. Glumes unequal, acute, three-veined, the midvein rough, 

 with minute points at the upper part. Lower flowers slightly 

 webbed at the base. Lower palea five-veined; the central and 

 lateral veins hairy, the intermediate ones indistinct, or only ob- 

 servable when held between the eye and the light, smooth. 



Perennial. Flowers in July. 



Regarding this Grass as a mere variety of the Wood Poa, owing 

 those peculiarities it may possess to its high alpine habitats, I 

 have been careful, as in the case of P. Parnellii, not to omit any 

 feature in description to which the slightest value might be at- 

 tached by the most punctilious observer. It is unquestionably a 

 more marked variety than the latter, but its claim to be regarded 

 as a distinct species is but little enhanced by that admission. , Mr. 

 Babington coincides with Dr. Parnell in assigning, as its chief 

 diflierential characters from P- nemoralis, the prominence of its 

 ligule, shorter and lower-placed upper leaf, covered upper joint, 

 and slightly rough stem; but he remarks that English specimens 



