72 KANSAS STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



wide; its branches are 1 to 4 inches long, the longer ones subdivided and flowering 

 above the middle. In the eastern States it has been cultivated, and there consid- 

 ered valuable. It occurs more abundantly in the more northern States. 



136. June Grass: Kentucky Blue-Grass; Spear Grass: Meadow Grass: Poa 

 pratensis, L. — A widely-known, cultivated and indigenous perennial grass, growing 

 usually li to 3 feet high, with an abundance of long, soft root-leaves. The panicle 

 is 2 to 4 inches long, pyramidal in outline, open and spreading; its branches are 

 fine, mostly in fives, the lower ones 1 to 2 inches long, subdivided, and flowering 

 above the middle. The spikelets are about 2 lines long, ovate, closely 3 to 5 flowered, 

 mostly on very short pedicels. It is one of the most valuable of all wild or tame 

 grasses. (Plate No. 136.) 



137. Rough-stalked Meadow-grass; Poa trivialis, L. — The culms are erect 

 from a somewhat decumbent base, but there are no distinct running root-stocks. 

 The sheaths and leaves are more or less rough. The panicles are larger than in the 

 preceding, or with branches more distant; otherwise it is much like that {Poa pra- 

 tensis). It is introduced from Europe; it is not abundant. 



138. Meadow grass; Spear grass; Poa sylvestris, Gr. — The culms are flattish 

 and erect. The panicle is oblong-pyramidal; its slender branches are numerous, 

 short, in fours or more. The flowering glume is hairy (villous) on the keel for its 

 whole length, and on the margin below the middle, but sparingly webbed at the 

 base. This is not known to be abundant or especially valuable. 



139. Tall Blue-grass; Wood Spear-grass; Poa atsodes,Gr. — The culms in this 

 species are 2 to 3 feet high, slender, erect, and with about 3 narrowly-linear leaves, 

 each 3 or 4 inches long. The panicle is about 6 inches long, very open, and com- 

 posed of about 4 whorls of branches chiefly in fours; the lower ones are distant, very 

 slender, 2 or 3 inches long, and with few flowers only toward the end of the branches. 

 The flowers are acute, which most readily distinguishes the species. It grows in 

 woods, <fec, and is of doubtful agricultural value. (Plate No. 139.) 



140. Meadow Grass; Spear Grass; Poa flexuosa, Muhl. — The culms are tufted, 

 1 to 3 feet high. The leaves are all linear, 2 to 5 inches long and gradually taper- 

 pointed. The panicle is very effuse — its branches 2 to 4 inches to the 4 to 6-flowered 

 spikelets (which are few and 3 or 4 lines long) or first ramification. The flowering 

 glume is prominently nerved, scarious at the apex and villous below the middle on 

 the keel and margins, but no web at the base. Rare if at all occurring in Kansas. 



Glyceria, R. Br.— -A genus of perennial, smooth marsh grasses. The spikelets are cylindrical or 

 flattish, several or many-flowered, in a narrow or diffuse panicle. The rachis is smooth and readily dis- 

 articulates between the flowers. The outer glumes are shorter than the flowers, unequal, membrana- 

 ceous, 1 to 3-nerved, and unawned. The flowering glumes are membranaceous or subcoriaceous, obtuse, 

 awnless, more or less hyaline, and denticulate at the apex; they are rounded on the back, 5 to 9-nerved 

 — the nerves separate and vanish before reaching the apex. The palet is as long as its glume, 2-keeled, 

 entire or bifid at the apex. 



141. Rattlesnake Grass; Tall Quaking-grass; Glyceria Canadensis, Trin. — 

 The culms are about 3 feet high, stout and leafy. The panicle is large, 6 to 9 inches 

 long, oblong-pyramidal, and at length drooping; its branches are mostly in threes, 

 the larger 3 or 4 inches long and subdivided near the base. The spikelets when ma- 

 ture are nearly three lines long, rather turgid, usually 6 to 8-flowered. The empty 

 glumes are shorter than the flowering ones, and purplish. It grows in swamps and 

 wet places, is a very ornamental grass, also useful for hay and pasture when abun- 

 dant. 



142. Nerved Meadow Grass; Nerved Manna Grass: Glyceria nervata, Trin. — 

 The culms are 2 or 3 feet high, usually somewhat decumbet below, often branching 

 and rooting at the lower joints. The panicles are 4 to 8 inches long, nodding when 



