83 



of England and Scotland; it ia not at all unfrequent on walls and 

 rocks, or even on very dry sandy soils, especially near the sea. 



According to Sinclair, it contains a considerable quantity of bitter 

 extractive matter, and the same author has noticed that hares left it 

 untouched during five successive years, while they cropped the normal 

 form which grew in the immediate vicinity. 



PoA coMPRBssA. Flat-stemmed Meadow Grass. Plate LXVII. 



Panicle erect, more or less spreading when in flower, somewhat 

 unilateral, spikelets oblong-ovate, five- to seven-flowered ; flowers 

 obtuse, the lower ones webbed. Lower palea with three hairy or silky 

 veins. Uppermost sheath about the length of its leaf. Ligule short, 

 obtuse. Stem, compressed from the base. 



Poa compressa, Linnceus. E. B. 365 ; ed. 2. 125. Generally adopted. 



Frequent in dry situations, especially on waste land, where the soil is 

 barren and unretentive of moisture, and on walls, road-sides, and rocks. 

 In habit it is not diss imil ar to P. pratensis, the stolones or creeping 

 shoots sending Up erect strongly-compressed stems a foot or more in 

 height. Leaf-sheaths smooth, striated, the uppermost not longer or 

 even shorter than its leaf. Leaves flat, acute, rough on the margins, 

 and often so on the upper face, smooth beneath. Ligule very short 

 and blunt. Panicle oblong, two or three inches long ; the branches 

 short, spreading when in flower, nearly unilateral, many of the spikelets 

 sessile. Outer palea three-veined ; the veins hairy towards the base. 

 Flowers webbed, but less copiously so than in the preceding species. 



Perennial. Flowers from June to September. 



In geographical distribution it accords with P. pratensis. 



There is much in the general aspect of the flat-stemmed meadow 

 grass that seems to favour its being a separate species. The remark- 

 able compression of the stem, usually more abundantly-flowered spike- 

 lets, and three-veined outer palea, constitute its leading distinctions : 

 the first is very constant, the second too variable to be of any import- 

 ance, the last not to be depended upon, as the intermediate veins, and 

 sometimes even the marginal ones, of P. pratensis, are liable to be 

 obscure and inconspicuous. 



It is said to be liked by cattle, and produces its foliage very early in 

 the spring, but the latter is too scanty to prove of much service. 

 However nutritious analysis has shown it to be, the same objections 

 apply to it in cultivation as to the species of which I am inclined to 

 consider it only a marked variety. 



Poa polynoda of Dr. Parnell, adopted by Mr. Babington in his 

 ' Manual,' is by many botanists regarded as a variety of the present. 

 I am not suflSciently acquainted with this grass to offer an opinion as 

 to its specific validity or otherwise ; but if its claims as a species rested 

 on its webless flowers and five-veined outer palea be rejected, _ it only 

 enhances the view ab-eady expressed in this work, concerning the 



M 2 



