QRAMINEiE. 



1005 



6. Hard Poa. Poa rigida, Linn. (Fig. 1222.) 



(Eng.-Bot. t. 1371. Sclerochloa, Bab. Man.) 



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. Flower- 

 ing glumes scarcely a line long, rather 

 obtuse, with very faint lateral nerves, 

 the outer empty pair more pointed and 

 more distinctly nerved. 



In waste, dry, or stony places, in cen- 

 tral and southern Europe and western 

 Asia. Common in southern England 

 and Ireland, but neither in Scotland nor 

 the extreme north of England. Fl. Fi", 1222. 



7. Darnel Poa. Poa loliaeea, Huds. (Fig. 1223.) 

 (Tinticum, Eng. Bot. t. 221. Sclerochloa,, 'Bah. Man.) 



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. 

 Each 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. 



On sandy sea-shores, common on the 

 Mediterranean and up the western 

 coasts of Europe to the English Channel. Scattered here and there 

 the coasts of England and Ireland, and very local in Scotland. Fl, 



Fig. 1223. 



along 

 sum- 



