62 



Bulletin V. 



Vol. IV., we gave a full-page figure of this blue-grass, and spoke 

 more in detail as to its merits.) 



Poa compressa, L\ 



•Blue-grass, Smaller Blue-grass, Flat- 



Fig. 25. 

 English 



Blue- grass 

 Poa com- 

 pressa . 



Stalked Blue-grass, Flat-stalked Meadow-grass, Creeping 

 Poa, Creeping Spear-grass, Wire-grass. 



jit A native of Europe, this grass has become thoroughly 



■^P naturalized here. Its low habit of growth, strongly com- 

 y pressed or flattened stems and narrow panicle, are char- 

 j I acters which enable one to readily distinguish this from 

 Kentucky Blue-grass. It is also more decidedly creep- 

 ing, and will grow well upon the thinnest and apparently 

 the most sterile soils. There is, perhaps, no better pas- 

 ture grass than this for dry and poor soils. 

 Poa flexuosa, Muhl. — Southern Spear-grass. 



A native grass, one to three feet high, found occasion- 

 ally m woods. Not sufficiently abundant to deserve 

 special notice. 



Poa pratensis. Linn. — Kentucky Blue-grass, Blue-grass, 

 Green-grass, June-grass (in Xew England), Smooth 

 or Smooth-stalked Meadow-grass, Spear-grass, En- 

 glish-grass, Brown-top-grass. 



A well known native perennial grass, with creeping under- 

 ground stolons and upright smooth stems two to four feet high. 

 It has been called the "King of pasture grasses 

 in the Central Basin of Tennessee," and "who- 

 ever has Blue-grass has the basis for all agricul- 

 tural prosperity." It is not so well adapted for 

 hay as for pasture, but it makes an excellent 

 bottom grass for the meadow. Here it remains 

 green throughout the year, excepting in severe 

 winter seasons, and blooms in May. Poa praten- 

 sis is common to both Europe and Am.erica, and 

 grows "wild" in this country from Alaska south- 

 ward along the Rocky Mountains to Arizona, and 

 in the Eastern part of the continent to the Gulf 

 States. It is only in good soils that it yields 

 well, doing best on those which are strongly 

 calcareous. 



Poa serotina, Ehrh. — False Red-top, Fowl Meadow-grass, Duck- 

 grass, Swamp Wire-grass. 

 This species is a native of the Northern States, growing in low 

 meadows and along streams. It appears to be a grass of excel- 

 lent quality, growing to the height of two or three feet, and is 

 pronounced a good grass for moist meadows. It 'is beino^ 



Fig. 26. 



Kentucky Blue- 



gras. 



Poa pratensis. 



