74 TRIANDRIA DIGYN1A 



Hab. Dry, sandy banks, and sterile old fields : frequent Fl. August. Fr. Sep.. 

 Obs. Pursh calls this "a most excellent grass," and says he has seen "most 

 excellent crops" of it, in the mountain meadows of Pennsylvania, where they mow 

 it twice a year. Such crops may possibly pass for "excellent" in mountain mea- 

 •lows; but they would not be so considered in Chester County. If Mr. Pursh ha? 

 not misapprehended the fact, ho is certainly mistaken in the character of th» 

 plant ; for it is a dry, rigid grass, with unusually hard culms, and altogether unfit 

 for making good hay. It is the only species of the genus in the U. States, 



49. POA. L. Wutt. Gen. 96. 

 [Greek, Poa, herbage, or pasture; applied by way of eminence to this genus. j 



$pikelet8 more or less ovate, compressed, mostly many-flowered. 

 Glumes 2, shorter than the lower florets. Pal em nearly equal, awnless, 

 often with a villous web at base ; lower one herbaceous, scarious on the 

 margin, Scales ovate, acute, gibbous at base. 



* Florets webbed at base. 



1. P. fuxsh§b, .Vutt. Culm compressed ; leaves linear, cuspidate; 



panicle nearly simple, spreading ; spikelets lance-ovate, 3 or 4-flowcred, 



crowded at the extremities of the branches ; florets rather obtuse. Beck-, 



Dot. p. 409. 



P. fiexuosa. MuKL Catal. p. 11. Ejusd. Gram. p. 148. Not of Pers, 



P. cuspidata. Bart. Phil. 1. p. 61. Florid. Cestr. p. 12. 



P. autumnalis. Ell. Sk. I. p. 159. 



Pungent, or Sharp-pointed Poa. 



Root perennial. Culm 1 to 2 feet high, compressed, striate, glabrous, somewh.v 

 cespitosc. Leaves erect, keeled, striate, slightly scabrous on the margin, compres- 

 sed and cuspidate at the end ; radical ones long, linear ; those on the culm gener- 

 ally 2, linear-lanceolate, very short: sheaths striate, somewhat scabrous, rather 

 loose ; ligule truncate, lacerate, sometimes abruptly acuminate. Panicle small, 

 spreading below, contracted and almost racemose at summit; branches capillary. 

 iu twos or threes. Spikelets crowded near the extremities of the branches, 3 or •! 

 flowered. Glumes unequal, smooth : lower one keeled, acute, upper one & nerved, 

 often bifid or bidentate at apex. Florets a little distant, slightly pubescent, with 

 a villous web at base. Loiccr palea ovate-l.inceolate, rather obtuse, o-nerveii, 

 scarious at apex, and ciliate-pubescent on the keel: upper palea a little shorter, 

 li near-lanceolate : conduplicate. Seed linear-oblong, concave on the upper side, 

 ^■horned at apex. 

 Uab. Hilly woodlands: Brandywinc: frequent. Fl. April. Fr. May. 



Obs. This early-flowering species,— which by a singular misnomer is called F. 

 autumnalis in Mr. ElliotVs Sketch,— is very abundant on the shaded banks of ihc 

 Brandy wine, near Hillsdale Factory ; but does not appear to extend much into the 

 open fields, nor to be of much promise, as a constituent of our pastures. 



& P. pbatbvsis, Z. Culm terete, smooth ; leaves keeled, linear, ab- 

 ruptly acute ; ligule 6hort, truncate ; panicle somewhat crowded, finally 

 spreading ; spikelets ovate, acute, about 4-flowered ; florets acute. Beck. 

 Bot. p. 409. 



P. viridis. Muhl. Catal. p. 11. Ejusd. Gram. p. 138. Ell. Sk. I. p. 

 159. Also, Pursh, Am. 1. p. 79. Nutt. Gen. 1. p. 65. Bart. Phil. 

 Vp. 60. FloruL Cestr. p. 12. Beck, Bot. p. 410 % 



