166 
TRIANDRIA. DIGYNIA. Poa, 
P. dis'tans. Panicles with subdivided branches, (which are at length 
reflexed. E.); spikets five-flowered; florets distant, blunt, 
(slightly five-nerved. E.); calyx, valves very unequal. 
(i Curt .— E. Bot. 986. E.)—Plate XXV. 
From nine to twelve inches high, or more. Straw bent at the lower joint; 
smooth. Root-leaves short, rather stiff, slender, smooth. Stem-leaves 
sheathing, rough at the edges near the end. Sheath-scale short, broad. 
Panicle about three inches long, two inches wide: branches in distant 
whorls, four or three in a whorl, greatly expanding; when ripe still more 
reflexed. Spikets five or six-flowered. Calyx smooth, one valve twice as 
large as the other. Blossom smooth, membranous at the edge and the 
point, not woolly at the base, unequal, blunt. 
Reflexed Meadow Grass. P. distans. Linn. Glyceria distans. Sm. E.) 
Aira aquatica distans. Huds. ( Poa retroflexa. Curt. E.) (Between London 
and Hampstead. Curtis. By the banks of the river at Yarmouth, Nor¬ 
folk. Mr. Woodward. About Ramsgate: and road side, near Castle 
Eden, Durham. Mr. Winch. E.) Sandy places near Exmouth. About 
Northfleet in Kent, and in Yorkshire and Lancashire. (Coast of Angus- 
shire, and other parts of Scotland. Mr. G. Don. Hook. Scot. E.) 
P. June—July.* * 
P. praten'sis. Panicle spreading; spikets four or five flowered; straw 
cylindrical, upright. Sheath-scale short and blunt. (Florets 
five-ribbed, connected by a web. Stem and leaves smooth. Sm. E.) 
Gram. Base. — Curt .—( E . Bot. 10T3. E.)— C. B. 28— H. Ox. viii. 5. 18— 
Stillingf. 6— Leers 6. 4— Scheuch. 3. 17— Anders. 
Root creeping. Spikets egg-shaped, one-flowered, often five-flowered, 
green, changing to a purplish colour. Sm. E.) From one to two feet 
high. Panicle heavy when in seed, not greatly diverging, two or four 
inches long, and more than half as broad. Leaves much less rough than 
in P. trivialis , but not always smooth. Mr. Svvayne observes, that in 
meadows which have been flooded the whole winter, it flourishes so as 
nearly to exclude every other grass. Bath. Soc. vol. ii. 
Smooth-stalked Meadow Grass. (Welsh: Gweun-wellt-llyfn. E.) Mea¬ 
dows, dry banks, and even on walls. It constitutes a considerable part 
of the herbage of the rich meadows in the flat parts of Somersetshire. 
P. May—June.j- 
tains a greater proportion of sugar than exists in any of the superior pasture grasses. 
It is subject to the attacks of the little parasitic fungus Uredo longissima, which appears 
on the leaves and stems in long brown-coloured stripes. Vid. With. v. 4. p. 372. . It 
affords a favourite food fpr the caterpillar of Phalxna Festuccz, producing the beautiful 
Gold-spot moth. 
* (After experimental culture of several years, it proves unworthy of attention. 
Mr. Curtis imagines that the rigid bending back of the panicle branches is occasioned 
by the gradual enlargement of certain small tubercles, situate at their base on the 
upper side. E.) 
t (Both this species and P. trivialis are early grasses, and have been deemed valua¬ 
ble for pasturage ; but Mr. Salisbury finds the former inclined to become so matted by 
its creeping roots as to be unproductive, either of herbage or seed. Only a moderate 
portion should therefore be introduced. The seeds in both species hang together by a 
substance resembling cobwebs, when thrashed, and require to be rubbed, either in 
ashes or dry sand to separate them before sowing. Though Mr. Sinclair admits it to 
be adapted for permanent pasture, he considers several other grasses decidedly supe- 
