P O A. 
17. Poa annua, or annual meadow-grafs: panicle di¬ 
varicate; fpikelets ovate; florets fomewhat remote, five- 
nerved, free; culm oblique, comprefled. Root annual, 
remarkably full of fibres. Culms numerous, forming a 
thick tuft, femi-procumbent, but in meadows among 
other plants nearly upright; flender, leafy, fmooth, and 
even, at the bafe rooting and branched, about half a foot 
high, or varying in different fituations from lefs than 
three inches to near a foot. Leaves very numerous, li¬ 
near, bluntifh, flat or fometimes tranfverfely wrinkled, 
flaccid, fmooth, bright green, rugged or finely ferrate on 
the edge,. Sheaths elongated, flat, fmooth, ftriated, palifh. 
Stipule fhort, fubdeltoid, erofe. Panicle triangular, flat- 
tifh, ereft, fmooth : branches or peduncles at the bottom 
generally in pairs, erne fliorter than the other, in the 
middle often in threes, and at top Angle: it is thinly fet, 
near two inches long, and almolt as broad. Spikelets 
ovate-oblong, flattifh and (harp on both fides, three, four, 
or fometimes five, flowered, fhining, green and white va¬ 
riegated, fmooth. Calycine glumes lanceolate acute, 
keeled, unequal. Florets rather remote, ovate-lanceolate, 
blunt, five-nerved, membranaceous at the edge, fomewhat 
filky at the back, but entirely free at the bafe, not con¬ 
futed by hairs. Styles exceedingly branched and pel¬ 
lucid. Seed ovate, covered by the corolla, which adheres 
to it, and flightly villofe at bottom. 
P. annua is diftinguifhed from P. trivialis by its general 
habit, its fpreading panicle, its reclining culms, its 
fmoothnefs and greater foftnefs and delicacy : from P. 
pratenfis by having the branches or peduncles in pairs, 
Jts panicle more thinly fet, and its fpikelets larger : from 
both, by its inferior fize, comprefled culms, annual root, 
property of throwing out new fhoots, and having the 
florets and feeds feparate, not hanging together by cob¬ 
web-like hairs. If gramen be fo named, fays Ray, et gra- 
diendo, or progrediendo, no fpecies better merits the name 
than annual meadow-grafs. Mr. Curtis, to whofe ac¬ 
counts of grafles it is difficult to add any thing new, 
remarks, that it differs very confiderably from all other 
annual grafles, in continually throwing out new fhoots, 
and producing new flowers and feeds, infomuch that, if 
the ground be moift, a fingle plant will grow in this man¬ 
ner throughout the year, Jo that we generally And on the 
fame plant young fhoots and ripe feeds. It imitates 
therefore the tropical plants in this circumftance, and is 
perhaps the only vegetable we have that does fo. 
No grafs is better entitled to the accurate Ray’s epithet 
of vulgatijfimum, for it is common to every quarter of 
the globe, and occurs almoft every-where in meadows, 
gardens, by the Aides of paths, and on walls; flowering 
all the fummer, and even in the winter, if the weather 
be mild. In open Adds the panicle frequently acquires 
a reddifh tinge. It appears to be one of the Arft general 
coverings which nature has provided for earth made bare 
from any caufe; hence it is frequent on the edges of paths, 
where its feeds being fcattered quickly vegetate, and the 
plants, not being overpowered by more luxuriant herbage, 
continue to flourifh; this gave occaAon to Mr. Stiliingfleet 
tofuppofe that this grafs thrived the more for being trod¬ 
den on; but this fuppofition is void of foundation. In 
walks, pavements, and pitching, it is one of our molt 
troublefome weeds; in fuch Atuations the molt expedi¬ 
tious way of deftroying it would be by pouring boiling 
water on it. Mr. Stiliingfleet fays that it makes the flneft 
of turfs ; that it is called in fome parts Suffolk grafs, 
there being whole fields of it in High Suffolk, without 
any mixture of other grafles, and that it is likely to be 
the beft grafs for the dairy. Its foliage is tender and 
grateful to cattle, but it never acquires any great height : 
it is alio liable to be killed by winter’s fro It and fummer’s 
drought. May or June is the beft time to gather the 
feed in greateft abundance ; but, as a Angle tuft of this 
grals may be divided into a vaft number of plants, and 
as they grow with wonderful facility, an experiment, on 
a final 1 fcale at lead, might be tried with it by tranfplant- 
Vol. XX. No. 14.04. 
725 
ing it in moift weather. This fpecies becomes viviparous 
in alpine Atuations. 
18. Poa flava, or yellow meadow-grafs: panicle dif- 
fufed ; fpikelets ovate-oblong, Aiming. Native of Vir¬ 
ginia. 
19. Poa barbata, or bearded meadow-grafs; panicle 
fpreading, capillary; fpikelets Ax-flowered, oblong; 
glumes fmooth, keeled. Root annual, in bundles of fibres. 
Culm Ample, upright, round, fmooth, a fpan in height. 
Leaves narrow, linear, attenuated at the tip, fetaceous, 
convoluted, entire, fmooth, longer than the culm. Joints 
bearded. Peduncles bifid or branched, with alternate, 
flexuofe, fmooth, pedicels. Spikelets five, fix, or feven, 
flowered, oblong, often ferruginous, fmooth, ferrate. 
Native of Japan. 
20. Poa pilofa, or hairy meadow-grafs : panicle fpread¬ 
ing, ftrift ; primary ramifications hairy. Height fourteen 
to fixteen inches. Leaves on the culm three or four inches 
long, ending in a (harp point, fmooth except at the edges, 
where they feel rough if drawn between the finger and 
thumb. Panicle very thin, loofe, and fcattered, from a 
hand to half a foot in length. Native of Italy, about 
Bologna. 
21. Poa paluftris, or msrfti meadow-grafs: panicle dif- 
fufed ; fpikelets lubtriflorous, pubefeent; leaves rugged 
underneath. Root perennial, creeping. Culm from a 
foot to two feet in height ; fometimes, but feldom, three 
feet; at firft decumbent, then eredft, weak, round, rooting 
at the four or five lower joints by white capillary fibres; 
between the joints involved in green, white, or browniffi, 
fheaths, putting out at almoft every rooting joint a la¬ 
teral ffioot, rendering the culm as it were dichotomous; 
the joints are very clofenear the bafe, but very remote in 
the upper part of the culm. Leaves fcarcely two lines 
wide, acuminate. Panicle half a foot or more in length, 
pyramidal, the lower branches being very long, and de- 
creafing gradually till the uppermoll are very fhort : 
fpikelets variegated with green and white, ovate, com- 
preffed, acuminate : calyx two or three flowered ; one 
glume narrower, both blackifli on the outfide, acuminate : 
glumes of the corolla narrower, green, acuminate, brown¬ 
iffi at the tip, covered with a very fine pubefcence or vil¬ 
lus at the bafe. 
Krocker diftinguiffies this from P. trivialis by its creep¬ 
ing dichotomous culm ; its creeping root ; its thinner, 
longer, and morediffufed, panicle; and its wider, longer, 
rugged, leaves ; from angujiifolia alfo by its culm and 
leaves ; its longer wider panicle, and larger fpikelets. 
It is known, fays Seguier, when the rice-fields are hoed, 
during its tender ftate, by its glaucous leaves; when far¬ 
ther advanced, by the fpinules of the leaves. Native of 
Denmark, Swifferland, Italy, and Germany. 
22. Poa glutinofa, or clammy meadow-grafs ; panicle 
fpreading ftrift, fpikelets feven to nine flowered,fomewhat 
- hirfute, glutinous ; culm Ample ; leaves fomewhat hairy. 
Culm one or two feet high, fubereft, very flender, ftrift, 
round, fmooth, jointed below'. Leaves fhort, linear,acute, 
concave, fpreading, hairyorfomewhat hirfute; the hairinefs 
thin and clammy. It is diftinft from P. pilofa in not 
having the iowelt branchlets of the panicle whorled and 
hairy; from P. amabilis in having fewer florets, not 
linear ; from P. eragroitis in the rigidity of the panicle, 
the diftance and clamminefs of the branchlets, &c. from 
P. capillaris as in the preceding, and alfo in having an 
upright Ample culm. It is an annual grafs, native of 
Jamaica, in dry (and. 
23. Poa prolifera, or proliferous meadow-grafs : panicle 
fpreading, ft rift; fpikelets many-flowered, (fixteen to 
twenty;) culm very much branched, knobbed; prolife¬ 
rous at the joints. Culm a fathom high and more, up¬ 
right. Native of the Caribee-iflands; St. Lucia, Guada- 
loupe. 
24. Poa amabilis, or Indian meadow-grafs: panicle 
fpreading; fpikelets eighteen-flowered, linear. This is 
very nearly allied to the next fpecies, with purple flowers, 
8 Y and 
