serotina. Leaves 1 to 5 inches lono: by i to ^ inch broad, almost 
fleshy. Panicle f to 2 inches long, most commonly viviparous. Spike- 
lets i to I inch long. Florets | inch long. 
Out of thousands of wild specimens I have never seen one with the 
rootstock and base of the stem unclothed \vith the decayed bases of 
former leafsheaths, which give it the sub-bulbous appearance above 
mentioned ; but in cultivation, either from more rapid growth of 
the rootstock, or more rapid decay of the leafsheaths, this peculiarity 
sometimes disappears, as may be seen in the original figure in " English 
Botany," which is given in the present edition on the right of the 
plate. 
Alpine Ileadoic- Grass. 
French, Pdtarin des Alpes. German, Gebirgs-liisjjeiujm^, 
SPECIES IV.— PO A LAX A. make. 
Plates MDCCLXIII. MDCCLXIV. 
Rootstock rather slender, very shortly or not at all creeping, csespi- 
tose, with jBstival leafy barren shoots but no stolons, with numerous 
or several flowering stems. Flowering stems erect or ascending some- 
times from a curved or geniculate base which is scarcely swollen, 
with the outer sheaths membranous, slender, weak, not bent at the 
upper knots ; the uppermost knot at about one-fourth above the base. 
Leaves at the base of the flowering stem thin, narrowly linear, tapermg, 
flat, gradually pointed and not hooded, or rather abruptly pointed and 
hooded at the apex ; stem leaves not much shorter than the radical 
ones, and in other respects suuilar to them; sheaths smooth, the 
uppermost one longer than its leaf ; ligule very prominent, oblong- 
triangular, subtruncate and lacerate. Panicle slightly drooping, nearly 
equal, or somewhat distichously unilateral, deltoid-ovoid in flower and 
afterwards, or rhombic- or fusiform-ovoid in both stages, rather lax or 
rather dense. Panicle-branches 1 to 3 at the lowest nodes of the 
rachis, but genendly 2, uueqiud, the longer ones bare of spikelets and 
unbranched at the base for half or two-thirds of their length, ascend- 
hig or erect in flower and fruit, or spreading in fruit, very slightly 
rough, bpikelets broatlly ovate, 2- to 6-flowered, usually 3- or 
4-tiowered ui the Britisli forms. Florets more or less coimected at 
tiie base by arachnoid hairs. Glumes both 3-ribbed or the lower one 
l-ribbt'd. Lower pale acuminate and acute or simply acute, obso- 
b'U-W o-rihbed, with tiie midrib and marginal ribs silky-hairy to- 
irds the ba>o, utclh, nuav nr k-s sutfused mth purple, bruadly 
■i'ownish- white and .-curiuiis at ihf .-i-.-t-x. 
