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P O A. 
double row, with a flexuofe winged rachis, and rugged 
angles, Spikelets linear, pedicelled, fmooth, from four 
to eight or ten flowered. 
Dr. Withering remarks, that this may be diftinguifhed 
from all the other fpecies by the principal or main fruit- 
flalk (rachis) being broadon the fide oppofite to the direc¬ 
tion of the branches, convex, and edged with a paler 
green border. Mr. Curtis obferves, that in dry and 
barren fituations, the (talks fometimes are found Ample, 
the panicle alfo not branched, and the fpikelets, inftead of 
containing about eight flowers, have no more than three 
or four. In this (late Scheuchzer makes another fpecies 
of it. This alteration, from an excels or fcantinefs of 
nourilhment, is what mod plants are fubjeCt to; and to 
form fpecies from fuch a caufe, is to multiply plants 
without end. A complete knowledge of a plant (parti¬ 
cularly of a grafs) is only to be attained, by obferving it 
at the different periods of its growth, in all the various 
fituations in which it occurs. Native of England, Holland, 
France, Italy, and Germany; alfo in Barbary; in dry 
fandy or (tony places, on walls and roofs; flowering from 
May to Auguft. 
44. Poa fpinofa, or thorny meadow-grafs: branches of 
the panicle alternate comprefl'ed fpinofcent, fpikelets al¬ 
ternate, peduncled, ten-flowered, culm branched. The 
fame grafs with Festuca fpinofa. Native of the Cape. 
45. Poa compreffa, or flat-ftalked meadow-grafs : 
panicle fqueezed clofe, directed one way : culm af- 
cending, comprefl'ed; florets angular, connected at the 
bafe by a complicated villus. Root perennial, creeping, 
confiding of downy fibres, thrown out from the lowed 
part of the flem, which is decumbent at the bafe, then 
rifes obliquely, and is upright at top; where it is naked; 
at bottom it is leafy ; the fird or lower joints are bent, 
the uppermod very long; it is driated, fmooth, and about 
a foot high, and is very much compreffed. Leaves flat, 
acute, of a glaucous green, fmooth and even. Panicle 
glaucous, upright, directed oneway, bluntifh, condenfed, 
two inches long; with the rachis from roundifli flatted; 
and all the branchlets at fird clofe and ereCt, acutely an¬ 
gular and rough, a little zigzag ; as they flower they 
fpread confiderably, but immediately after the difcharge 
of the pollen they become again clofe-preffed to the main 
branch, fo that the upper part of the panicle looks as if it 
expanded fird. By this mark the grafs may be known at 
a didance. Spikelets fubfeflile, ovate, or ovate-lanceo¬ 
late, much longer than thofe of P. pratenfis. Calycine 
glumes altnod equal, ovate, nerved. Florets from three 
to nine, (modly three or four, Linnaeus fays fix ;) clofely 
imbricate, ovate-angular, three-nerved, bluntilh, purple 
below the tip, which is filvery and fcariofe, at the bafe 
connected by very fine complicated fliorter villofe hairs. 
Dr. Withering fays they are rarely woolly at the bafe. 
Native of mod parts of Europe, in dry paflures, on the 
tops of walls that are a little covered with earth; on 
lioufe-tops, and in other very dry places ; where it may 
be found in flower from June to September, and may be 
eafily diftinguiftied by its compreffed ffem. It is alfo 
found in North America, where it has ufually three 
florets in a calyx ; the European has commonly more, but 
the habit and ftruCture are the fame in both. This grafs 
can fcarcely be put to any agricultural ufe, though all 
cattle eat it; for it does not thrive in moiff or manured 
ground, and there are many better grades for dry fitu¬ 
ations. 
46. Poa farmentofa, or farmentofe meadow-grafs: 
panicle fqueezedclofe ; fpikelets lanceolate, ten-flowered; 
culm farmentofe. 47. Poa flriata, or driated meadow- 
grafs : panicle fpreading, fpikelets ovate, ten-flowered 
or thereabouts, culm creeping. Found by Thunberg at 
the Cape of Good Hope. 
48. Poa Amboinenfis, or Amboyna meadow-grafs: 
panicle fqueezed clofe, directed one way; culm round. 
Culm evidently compreffed. Inner valve of the corollas 
linear, curved, ciliate, like P. ciliaris; from which it 
differs jn having the cilias many times fmaller, the culms 
depreffed, and the leaves fcarcely an inch in length. 
According to Linnreus, this grafs refembles P. comprefla 
very much ; but the culm is round ; the flowers are 
panicled, whorled, five-flowered ; the antherse red, and 
the pidils white. Native of the Ead Indies, where it was 
obferved by Koenig. 
49. Poa vifcofa, or vifcid meadow-grafs: panicle ob¬ 
long, fpreading; lower fpikelets three-flowered, (three to 
five,) upper twelve-flowered ; culms rigid, finally vifcid. 
Rootsarticulate, doloniferous, producing bundles of leafy 
culms a fpan high, and round. Leaves filiform, con¬ 
voluted, diflich, (hort, fomewhat rigid. The colour of 
the panicle is commonly greenifli, fometimes hoary, and 
not unfrequently blood-red. The culms, peduncles, 
pedicels, and calyxes, are all fo clammy, as to befmear 
the feet and legs of thofe who walk among this grafs, 
and cover them with the glumes. It fills the air with an 
odour of turpentine that is not unpleafant, efpecially in 
the evening. Found in the dry gravelly foils of Malabar 
by Koenig. 
50. Poa nemoralis, or wood meadow-grafs: panicle 
and leaves attenuated ; fpikelets lanceolate, three-flow¬ 
ered or thereabouts; glumes acute, obfoletely five- 
nerved ; flipules very fmall, crenate. Root creeping a 
little. Culms feveral, upright, a foot and a half high, 
(lender, (lightly comprefl'ed, ftriated, fmooth. Leaves al- 
moft ail on the flem, narrow', attenuate-briftle-fliaped, 
acute, ftriated, the upper ones rough on both (ides and at 
the edge, the lower ones fmooth underneath. Sheaths 
fcarcely the length of the leaves, compreffed, fmoothilh. 
Florets two to four, approximating, lanceolate, acute, 
fcarce apparently five-nerved, membranaceous on the 
edge and at the tip, more or lefs filky on the back, fome¬ 
what hairy at the bafe, but free, and not connected by 
bundles of villofe hairs that admit of being drawn out, 
as in pratenfis and triviaiis: inner valves acute, keeled 
within, fubpubefcent on the margin. 
This is the Poa anguftifolia nemoralis of Hudfon. It 
is a native of many parts of Europe, in woods and (hady 
places: with us it is more common in the northern parte 
of the illand. It flowers in June. 
( 3 . Has a firmer habit, the flem and leaves lefs atte¬ 
nuated, the panicle denfer, the florets commonly more 
numerous. It has the appearance of P. pratenfis or tri¬ 
viaiis : but it is diftinguifhed by the florets being un¬ 
connected, though hairy at the bafe, more acute, and lefs 
nerved ; and by the ftipule being very (hort, fubcrenate, 
or ciliate: infomuch that it cannot by any means be 
affociated with them. This is P. anguftifolia a of 
Hudfon ; the fecond variety of pratenfis in Withering 3 
and (e_ems to be P. triviaiis of Leers. 
y. P. glauca, or (lender glaucous meadow-grafs : 
panicle glaucous, (lender, ereCt ; fpikelets ovate, of about 
three flowers; glumes bluntifli, filky-edged, unconnected 
by any web; ftipule very (hort. Found on the loftieffc 
mountains of Wales and Scotland; perennial, flowering 
in June. The whole plant is very glaucous, and of a 
much more (lender habit than any of the foregoing 
fpecies. Schrader, indeed, fufpeCts it to be but a moun¬ 
tain variety of the nemoralis. The fpikelets, however, 
are more ovate and clofe, and the glaucous colour appears 
to be an important diftinCtion. 
51. Poa contraCta, or contracted meadow-grafs: pani¬ 
cle contracted ; florets lanceolate three together, naked, 
feffile; leaves filiform. This is a very fmooth grafs, two 
feet high and more, with a thick culm. The panicle 
fcarcely iffues from the (heath of the upper leaf. Calyxes 
acute, three-flowered, naked, fliorter than the flowers, 
alternate, feffile. Obferved by Koenig in the Eaft Indies. 
52. Poa filiformis, or thread-leaved meadow-grafs: 
panicle fpreading, fpikelets ovate, four-flowered, leaves 
filiform. Found by Thunberg at the Cape of Good Hope. 
53. Poa bulbola, or bulbous meadow-grafs: panicle 
fubflexuofe, fpikelets four-flowered, glumes connected by 
a vil» 
