B. P. I.—17%6. 
ine Se eS OR Vile BEUEGK ASSES. 
J. THE GERMINATION, GROWING, HANDLING, AND 
AOUEGER ATION OF BEUBEWASS SEEDS: 
By EpeGar Brown, 
Botanist in Charge of Seed Laboratory. 
DESCRIPTION OF COMMERCIAL AND HAND-GATHERED SEEDS. 
Great difficulty is experienced in distinguishing the seeds of the. 
species of Poa. It is especially important to be able to recognize 
them, as the species vary greatly in value and the seed of one species 
is frequently substituted for that of another. 
The descriptions of the seeds of Poa already published have been 
largely those of complete or hand-gathered specimens. But the seeds 
of some kinds as they appear on the market are more or less broken 
and have lost many of their distinguishing characters. The process 
of cleaning often rubs off the web at the base of the seed and the 
hairs along the sides and breaks the tip. On this account descriptions 
based on specimens of perfect seeds are not to be relied upon in 
identifying certain commercial Poas. 
The mutilation of seeds during the process of cloning | is especially 
marked in home-grown seed of Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis). 
Even the fande gathered seed of rough-stalked meadow grass (Poa 
triwalis) is frequently so much injured about the slender apex as to 
increase greatly the difficulty of distinguishing it from that of Ken- 
tucky bluegrass. On the other hand, the commercial seeds of wood 
meadow grass (Poa nemoralis) and foul meadow grass (Poa triflora) 
retain much of the pubescence on the glume, often the web, and are 
usually not broken on the tip. 
It is important that descriptions and illustrations to be used in prac- 
tical seed testing be taken from the commercial as well as hand- 
gathered seed and be comparative in character. Those given in this 
paper have been prepared from both hand-gathered and commercial 
seed. The term seed is here used in its popular sense. 
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