1010 



THE GEASS FAMILY. 



In alpine pastures, common in all the 

 great mountain-ranges of Europe and 

 central and Russian Asia, and at high 

 latitudes in North America. Abundant 

 on the higher mountains of Scotland, 

 Ireland, and northern England, and 

 frequently in a viviparous state, the 

 spikelets being converted into leafy 

 bulbs. Fl. summer. 



Fig. 1230. 



15. Bulbous Poa. Poa "bulbosa, Linn. (Tig. 1231.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1071.) 



A low, tufted perennial, seldom above 

 6 inches high, and remarkable for the 

 bulbs formed by the swollen base of the 

 stems and leaf-sheaths. Leaves short, 

 the ligula of the upper ones prominent 

 and acute. Panicle ovoid or oblong, 

 spike-like or scarcely spreading, not 

 much above an inch long. Spikelets 

 ovate, 3- or 4-flowered. Flowering glumes 

 about a line long, or rather more, pointed 

 and keeled ; the lateral nerves not pro- 

 minent, with minute silky hairs on the 

 keel and edges, and a few short woolly 

 ones at their base on the axis of the 

 spikelet. 



In dry waste places, on roadsides, etc., 

 especially near the sea, in temperate and southern Europe, and across 

 Russian Asia, extending northwards into southern Scandinavia. In 

 Britain, chiefly near the sea, in the southern and eastern counties of 

 England, but not recorded from Ireland or Scotland. Fl. spring. 



Fig. 1231. 



XXXVI. CATABROSE. CATABKOSA. 

 A single species, closely allied to Poa, but the spikelets have usually 



