52 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 
2. P. trivialis—locustae of about three acute webbed flo- 
rets ; leaves with a rough sheath, ligule pointed.—P. 
3. P. pratensis—locuste of about four acute flowers, with 
a web; culm and herbage smooth ; ligule short and 
blunt; rbizome creeping.—P. 
oa 
. P. compressa—culms flat, oval on a transverse section, 
rhizome creeping.—P. 
. P. nemoralis—locuste of three flowers, slightly web- 
bed; ligule short; culms slightly compressed ; rhi- 
zome indicated.—P. 
6. P. fluitans—locuste of from seven to eight florets ob- 
tuse, leaves broad and floating on the water.—P. 
Or 
1. This grass is found about mud-banks, road-sides, 
ditches, and dirty places, a life for which its chemical analy- 
sis shows it to be well adapted, as, according to Mr. Way, 
it contains a large quantity of water and less ash, both in 
the dried and undried grass, than any other species upon 
which he operated; and upon this he remarks, that “the 
specimen of annual meadow grass, Poa annua, differs from 
all the others with which it is associated, both in the low 
percentage of silica and the corresponding decrease in the 
proportion of potash, which, whether calculated on the 
natural or dry specimen, is peculiarly low ;” and to this is 
appended the following note, “ Annual meadow grass is said 
(see Lowe's Agriculture) to be the most productive of ail 
the grasses: Is this in any degree to be attributed to its 
more moderate mineral requirements?’ In an agricultural 
point of view, this grass may be considered as a weed, as it 
has scarcely any feeding properties; and though it some- 
times presents an apparently green turf over alluvial flats, 
and anywhere with a muddy subsoil, such grass affords, as 
the farmers say, “ no heart’’—“no proof” init. On some 
land of Lord de Mauley’s, celebrated for scouring cattle, 
this grass was a prevailing one. It is a great pest in 
garden-walks, increasing rapidly where allowed to seed. 
Salt has been recommended for the prevention of its growth, 
