18 
SOME COLORADO GRASSES. 
POA PRATENSIS (L.). 
(June Grass ; Kentucky Blue Grass, Etc.) 
Stems slender, smooth, 1 to 3 feet high, somewhat 
geniculate below, from running rootstocks; sheaths loose, 
very smooth; ligule truncate; panicle oblong or pyra¬ 
midal, sometimes one-sided ; spikelets about three-flowered, 
nearly sessile; outer glumes very acute, obscurely three- 
nerved at base, nearly equal, rough on the keel; flowering 
glume acute, distinctly three-nerved, densely woody for 
two-thirds its length, the apex especially; the keel scabrous. 
This is the mountain type of this well-known grass. 
It occurs in North Park in quantity, at an altitude of 
9,000 feet, in the shade of Finns balfouriana , var. aristata. 
It is always much inferior to Poa tenuifolia. 
[See cut on opposite page.] 
POA LAXA (Haenke). 
(Wavy Meadow Grass.) 
Stems erect, slender, wiry, 10 inches high, the lower 
joints geniculate; leaves narrowly linear, about two on 
the stem, smooth ; sheaths shorter than the nodes, smooth ; 
ligule elongated, pointed; panicle oblong, 1 to 3 inches 
long; branches smooth, J to 1 inch long, erect; spikelets 
purplish, three or four-flowered ; outer glumes glabrous, 
very acute, unequal, one-nerved ; flowering glume puberu- 
lent all over, five-nerved, apex acute, scarious, bronzy; 
palet equal, purplish, two-toothed. 
This species in the mountains on dry hillsides. Too 
small to be of much value. 
