538 THE GRASS FAMILY. [Rom. - 
annual, with decumbent stems, 6 or 8 inches long, or very seldom attaining 
a foot. Leaves flat. Panicle branched and 1-sided as in the last two 
species, but much more compact, seldom above 2 inches long. Spikelets 
rather crowded, nearly sessile along the branches, about 4-flowered. 
Glumes as in P. maritima, but rather smaller, stiffer, with the nerves 
more conspicuous. Gilyceria procumbens, Dumort. Sclerochloa procum- 
bens, Beauv. 
In waste ground near the sea, on the western coast of Europe, from the 
Spanish Peninsula to Holland, temperate Asia and North America. 
Occurs on various parts of the coasts of England, and Ireland, rare. F7. 
summer. 
6. P. rigida, Linn. (fig. 1237). Hard Poa.—A tufted annual, 
usually about 6 inches high, with stiff stems, erect or slightly decumbent 
at the base. Panicle lanceolate, one-sided, about 2 inches long, rather 
crowded ; the branches slightly spreading. Spikelets on short, stiff pedicels, 
linear, about 3 lines long, each with about 6 or 8 flowers. flowering glumes 
scarcely a line long, rather obtuse, with very faint lateral nerves, the outer 
empty pair more pointed and more distinctly nerved. Festuca rigida, 
Kunth. Sclerochloa rigida, Linn. Glyceria rigida, Sm. 
In waste, dry, or stony places, in central and southern Europe, not un- 
common on dry rocky and stony places in England, Scotland, and Ireland. 
Fl. summer. 
7. P. loliacea, Huds. (fig. 1238). Darnel Poa.—A tufted annual like 
© the last, but usually smaller and stiffer; the panicle reduced to an almost 
simple spike, along which the spikelets are almost sessile, in 2 rows, on 
alternate sides of the axis, but all turning one way; the lower ones often 
2 or 3 together in a sessile cluster. Hach spikelet is about 3 lines long, 
with 6 to 8 flowers. Glumes about a line long, more or less keeled, 
especially at the top, with faint lateral nerves and scarious edges, obtuse 
or slightly pointed; the outer empty pair nearly similar to the flowering 
ones, but more strongly nerved. Sclerochloa loliacea, Woods. 
On sandy sea-shores, common on the Mediterranean and up the western 
coasts of Europe to the English Channel. Scattered here and there along 
the coasts of England and Ireland, and very local in Scotland. #7. sum- 
mer. This species has been successively transferred by different botanists 
from Triticum, where it was originally placed by Smith, to Brachypodium 
and Festuca, with all of which it has considerable affinity, or with P. 
rigida it has been made one of the small genera Sclerochloa, Catapodium, 
er Scleropoa, more recently established. 
8, P.’annua, Linn. (fig. 1239). Annual Poa.—A tufted annual, 
usually about 6 inches high, with flat, flaccid, bright-green leaves, Panicle — 
loose and spreading, 14 to 3 inches long, with slender branches. Spikelets  — 
all stalked, oblong or linear, each with from 38 to 6 or rarely more flowers. 
Flowering glumes scarious at the top, keeled from the base; the lateral 
nerves also slightly prominent when dry without woolly hairs on the axis 
of the spikelet, but very minutely silky-hairy on the keel. 
In cultivated and waste places, most abundant in the temperate regions 
of the northern hemisphere, but extending into almost every part of the 
globe. Very common in Britain, and a chief ingredient in the grass of 
some of the London parks. fl. nearly the whole year round. It will 
