78 



are more luxuriant than those from Scotland, and differ from 

 them, not only in having more frequently longer, more compound, 

 and many-flowered panicles, but that in them the upper leaf is 

 often inserted rather higher upon the stem, though still " below the 

 middle" ! The ' Manual of British Botany' is a very valuable field- 

 book, its author an ardent and discriminating practical botanist ; 

 he will pardon the non-appreciation of such lax specific distinctions 

 by one whose only aim in observing upon them is to further the 

 advance, on stedfast principles, of their mutually-loved branch of 

 natural science. 



From P. Parnellii this Grass is considered to be well distin- 

 guished by the webbed flowers ; but the presence of the web is 

 often equivocal, and, where that appendage is most obvious, it 

 rarely consists of more than three or four long silky hairs, the ru- 

 diments of which are sometimes observable in the former plant. 

 Notwithstanding a general difference in aspect, I cannot avoid the 

 impression that the two are not unfrequently confounded by 

 collectors. 



Dr. Parnell remarks that sheep seldom eat this Grass, as they 

 give a preference to the Festuca ovina, which grows in abundance 

 in the same situations ; a fact according with my own observation 

 regarding P. nemoralis. 



PoA OLAUCA. Glaucous Meadow Grass. Plate LXIII. 



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

 flowered ; flowers free (not connected by a web) . Glumes unequal, 

 rather obtuse, hairy at the base. Lower palea five-veined, the 

 central and lateral veins hairy or silky, the intermediate ones in- 

 distinct. Stipules very short, obtuse. 



Poa glauca, Smith. E. B. 1720; ed. 2. 132. P. nemoralis s. 

 Hooker and Arnott. P. nemoralis, Bentham. P. nemoralis 7. 

 glauca, Babington, who, however, does not quote the English 

 Botany figure. P. csesia, Parnell. 



A Grass of alpine growth. Stems six inches to a foot in height, 

 rather slender and wiry. Leaves narrow, and, as well as the rest 

 of the plant, very conspicuously glaucous. Panicle erect, from two 

 to five inches long ; its branches slender, rigid, much divided, 

 spreading, the lower ones growing by threes. The palese are 

 usually more or less variegated with shades of purple, with pale 

 margins, a circumstance which, added to the glossy silk-like hairs 

 of their veins, renders the mass of inflorescence extremely beau- 

 tiful when the sun is shining upon it. 



Perennial. Flowers in June and July. 



This Grass, like P. ccesia in the preceding section, is one of very 

 doubtful affinity. My own acquaintance with it is confined to 



