1006 



THE GRASS FAMILY. 



mer. This species has been successively transferred by different 

 botanists from Triticum, where it was originally placed by Smith, to 

 False- Brome and Fescue, with all of which it has considerable affinity, 

 or it has been made one of the small genera Sclerochloa, Catapodium, 

 or Scleropoa, more recently established. 



8. Annual Poa. Poa annua, Linn. (Fig. 1224.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1141.) 



A tufted annual, usually about 6 inches 

 high, with flat, flaccid, bright-green 

 leaves. Panicle loose and spreading, 1^ 

 to 3 inches long, with slender branches. 

 Spikelets all stalked, oblong or linear, 

 each with from 3 to 6 or rarely more 

 flowers. Flowering glumes scarious at 

 the top, keeled from the base ; the la* 

 teral 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. Yery 

 common in Britain, and a chief ingre- 

 dient in the grass of some of the London Parks. Fl. nearly the whole 

 year round. It will often germinate, flower, ripen and shed its seeds, 

 and die away, in the course of a few weeks. 



Tig. 1224. 



9. Flattened Poa. Poa compressa, Linn. (Fig. 1225.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 365, and P. polynoda, Bab. Man.) 



A perennial, seldom above a foot high, with a creeping rootstock, 

 and erect stems more or less flattened at the base. Leaves rather 

 short, with flattened sheaths and a short, obtuse ligula. Panicle ob- 

 long, 2 to 3 inches long, slightly spreading, but rather crowded, with 

 many of the spikelets sessile, and the branches turned towards one 

 side, but not so much so as in the procumbent and the sea P. Spikelets 

 ovate-oblong, usually 4- to 6-flowered, with occasionally a few woolly 



