TRIANDRIA. DIGYNIA. Poa. 167 
Var. 2. Setacea. Leaves slender* * straw smooth. 
H. Ox. viii. 5. 19— Leers 6. 3. 
Spikets three-flowered* pubescent* root-leaves like bristles. Huds. Spike 
florets three or four* not merely woolly at the base* but likewise along 
the keel. 
(P. augustifolia. With. ed. 4. P. praiensis (3. Sm. P. nemoralis (3. FI. 
Brit. E.) Woods and Hedges. 
(Var. 3. Whole herbage glaucous. Stem but a span high; leaves short* 
broad and flat. Panicle much smaller and less branched than in the com¬ 
mon pratensis. Florets three in number* connecting web extremely co¬ 
pious* so as to be visible without pulling them asunder. 
E. Bot. 1004. 
Short Blueish Meadow Grass. Welsh: Giveun-wellt-wyhrliw. P. suh~ 
ccerulea. E. Bot. P. humilis. Ehrh. With. Ed. 6. P. pratensis (3. 
Huds. _ Hook. P. pratensis y. Sm. Eng. FI. In mountainous situa¬ 
tions* in Wales* Anglesey* Scotland* and the north of England. 
Sm. E.)* 
P. alpi'na. Panicle spreading* very much branched: spikets four to 
six-flowered* heart-shaped. 
Scheuch. Pr. 3. 4— {E. Bot. 1003. E.) 
Florets from two to five in each spiket. Scheuch. (with a few hairs at the 
base* but wanting the long web which connects the florets of most Poa. 
E. Bot. Six to twelve inches high* nearly upright. Leaves linear* rather 
broad* many ribbed* radical leaves tufted. E.) 
Var. 2. Vivipara. Panicle viviparous. 
FI. Dan. 807— Scheuch. It. i. 4. 2—Scheuch. 4. 14. 
About seven inches high. Panicle two to three inches long; only some of 
the florets viviparous. (Mr. Griffith* who has grown this variety for 
eighteen years in his garden* finds it uniformly viviparous. 
nor. He remarks, “ it comes early in the spring, but its produce is inconsiderable, 
and its strong creeping roots exhaust the soil. Besides the superiority of produce, An- 
thoxantham odoratum and Poa trivialis have fibrous roots, which impoverish the soil in a 
far less degree.” All creeping roots scourge the soil; therefore, cceteris paribus, the 
fibrous-rooted plants are to be preferred. It is judiciously remarked in FI. Lond., that 
to ensure early hay harvests (desirable from the probability of finer weather, from not 
interfering with the corn harvest, and as affording the best chance of a second crop), 
such grasses should be selected as flower early, and nearly together, which may be 
about the last week in May. To such result should cultivation tend ; for upland pas¬ 
tures, and even meadows in a state of nature, generally produce a mixture of coarse, 
unprofitable, plants. The culm is supposed to be excellent for straw plat; indeed, the 
prize bonnet, in imitation of Leghorn, which obtained the reward of the Society of 
Arts for Miss Woodhouse of Connecticut, was made from this species of grass. E.) 
* (This is an inferior pasture grass, possessing the worst qualities of P. pratensis. In 
a shady situation is has been known to attain the height of three feet in the culm, having 
a handsome appearance. Though this plant contain more of bitter extractive, and less 
of saccharine matter than P. pratensis, cattle do not dislike it on that account, and it 
has been remarked by Sir H. Davy, that the grasses most acceptable to them “ have 
either a saline or subacid taste.” This bitter extractive and saline matter may be sup¬ 
posed, not merely to operate as nutriment, but to assist and modify the digestive 
powers. The hare, which, according to Mr. Sinclair* rejects P. humilis, (this Var. 3), 
decidedly selects the sweeter kind, E.) 
