Briza.] OLxxiii. GRAMINB^. (J. D. Hooker.) 337 



Stem 1-3 ft., very slender, creeping below and stoloniferoua. Leaves flat, smooth 

 or scaberulousj sheaths smooth, upper inflated; ligule short. PantcJa pyramidal; 

 branches long, capillary, horizontal. Spikelets J-J in., green or purplish, shining, 

 orbicular-ovate ; fl. gls. cordate, imbricate. 



118. POA, Unn. (by 0. Stapf). 



Annual or perennial grasses. Leaves flat or convolute. Spikelets 

 2-6-fld., m lax or close rarely spioiform panicles, laterally compressed ; 

 rachilla jointed at the base and between the flg. gls., glabrous or sparsely 

 hairy, upper fl. usually imperfect. Glumes 4 or more, acute or obtuse, 

 nsaallv thinly herbaceous ; I and II empty, persistent, l-S-nerved, keeled ; 

 flg. gls. obtuse or acute, 5-7- very rarely S-nerved, nerves conniving to- 

 wards the top, callus often bearded with long wool ; palea shorter than the 

 gls., 2-keeled. Lodicules 2. Stamens 3. Styles short, free, stigmas 

 plumose. Grain ovoid oblong or linear, free or adherent to the palea. 

 — Species about 80, temperate and cold regions, rarely tropical. 



The Indian Poae have been worked up by Dr. Stapf, who has kindly given me 

 his mss., from which the characters given below are taken. The nomenclatare 

 agrees closely with that of Hackel in a very extensive series of North Indian grasses 

 collected by Mr. Duthie. The names of early distributed collections including those 

 of Dr. Thomson and myself were given by Genl. Munro after a cursory examination, 

 and should be disregarded. 



Subgen. I. PsEUDoroA, 0. Koch. Fl. gls. 3-nl3rved, often very faintly. 



1. P. perssica, Trin. in Mem. Acad. Sc. Petersb. Ser. VI. i. (1831) 373; 

 Kunth Enum. PI. i. 358 ; Boies. Fl. Orient, v. 610 ; Steud. Syn, Gram. 255. 

 P. parvnla, Serb. Un. Ilin. ex Steud. I. c. P. pamphylica, Boiss. Diagn. 

 Ser. I. xiii. 58. Nephelochloa persica, Griseh. in Ledeh. FL Boss. iv. 366, 

 in Ooett. Nachr. (1868) 74. Pestuca persica, heptantha, & polygama, G. 

 Koch in Linnsea, xxi. (1848) 409, 410. P. Amherstiana, Boyle III. Himal. 

 Bot. 417 (name only).— Poa,, n. 19, 20, Herb. Ind. Or. H.f. ^ T. 



Westben Hiualata ; from Kunawur to Kashmir and Western Tibet, alt. 

 7-12,000 ft. — DiSTBiB. Westwd. to Asia Minor, Soongaria, Altai Mts. 



A very slender erect, quite glabrous, usually flaccid annual, 1-18 in. high, most 

 variable in babit ; from a simple capillary stem with few-fld. contracted panicle, to 

 a tall strict herb, with a pyramidal or oblong copiously branched panicle 6-8 inches 

 long, and sometimes 6 in. across the spreading branches. Leaves narrowly linear, 

 rarely i in. diam., quite smooth, flat ; ligule lanceolate. Panicle-hranches 2-9 in a 

 whorl, pedicels capillary, often very long and divaricate. Spikelets ^nj-i '"• l""?- 

 2-15-fld., green, rachilla slender ; gls. I and II lanceolate, aonminate, I very small, 

 II 3-nerved ; flg. gls. longer than II, linear-oblong, acute acuminate or obtuse and 

 mucronate, smooth or obscurely pnbernlous, tip and margins more or less broadly 

 scarious and shining ; palea 2-toothed, keels scaberulous. Lodicules ovate-oblong. 

 Antliers minute. Grain narrow, linear, subadherent. 



The following are divergent forms with many intermediates of this extremely 

 variable grass. In India they do not seem to affect special localities. All seem to 

 occur in Western Tibet, where the plant is very abundant. 



P. pebsica proper ; rather tall, spikelets many-fld., fl. gls. acute or acuminate 

 very narrowly scarious. 



Var. soongarica ; spikelets l-3-fld.,flg. gls. acuminate, margins broadly scarious. 



var. oxymeris, Boiss. Fl. Orient. I. e. P. soongarica, Soiss. I. c. 611. P. paradoxa 



& P. subtilis, Ear. ^ Kir. in Bull. Soc. Nat. Misc. (1841) 464, (1842) 532. P. 



diaphana (error for diaphora), Trin. in Bull. Sc. Acad. Peterib. i. (1836) 69. 



VOL. VII. 2 



