GRASS FAMILY 



575 



flowered ; flowering glume 5-nerved. — Waste places, everywhere. — 

 Fl. nearly all the year round. Annual. 



2. P. bulbbsa (Bulbous Meadow-grass). — A low, tufted, glabrous 

 plant, 6 — 10 in. high, remarkable for the bulbs formed by the 

 swollen base of the stems and leaf-sheaths ; leaves narrow, finely 

 serrate, with long, acute ligules ; panicle ovoid, scarcely spreading, 



p6a Annua {Annual Meadow-grass). 



not much more than an inch long, with branches in pairs ; spikelets 

 ovate, 3 — 4-flowered ; flowering glume pointed, keeled, with minute, 

 silky hairs on keel and edges, and a few short, woolly ones on the 

 rachilla at its base. — Sandy shores, chiefly in the south-east ; rare. 

 — Fl. April, May. Perennial. 



3. P. alpina (Alpine Meadow-grass). — A nearly allied species, 

 tufted, often somewhat swollen at the base ; leaves short, rather 

 broad, rounded and mucronate at the tip; panicle spreading, 2 



