TRIANDRIA. DIGYNIA. Poa. 
169 
Ox. viii. 5. 21— Mas. Rust. iv. 2. 1— Dod. $60. 1— Lob. Ohs. 9. 1— Ger. 
Em. 2. 1— Park. 1156. 4, the upper left hand — C. B. Th. 31— -J. B. ii. 465. 
1— Ger. Em. 3. 2— Park. 1156. 4, lower left hand — J. B. Ib. 2. *— Panicle, 
S$c. Leers 6. 1— Anders, called C. compressa—Branch of the panicle, Scheuch. 
3. IT. E. — Park. 1156. lower right hand . 
Panicle branches in the middle often in threes, at the top solitary. Curt. 
Spikets larger than those of P. pratensis. Dickenson. It varies extremely 
in height, from two to twelve inches or more. Leaves tender, smooth, 
except towards the end. Panicle thinly set, nearly two inches long, and 
almost as broad. Spikets from three to five-flowered. External valve 
of the blossoms hairy at the base and on the lower part of the keel. 
Its smoothness distinguishes it from P. trivialis ; its compressed straw, 
and thinly set panicle, from P. pratensis. 
Suffolk Grass, (from its having been first cultivated in that county. E.) 
Annual Meadow Grass. (Welsh: Gweun-wellt blynyddawl. Pastures, 
paths, gravel walks, and the borders of fields: (few plants more com¬ 
mon. E.) A. April—Sept.* 
P. trivia lis. Panicle spreading ; spikets three-flowered, woolly at the 
base; straw upright, rough: sheath-scale tapering to a point. 
Curt. 
Gram . Pasc. — Cart. — {Hort. Gram. — E. Bot. 1072. E.)— Park. 1156. 4. 
upper right hand Jig. — C. B. Th. 30. 
Root creeping. Whole plant rough. One and a half to two feet high, or 
more. Panicle six or eight inches long, and three or four broad when 
fully ^expanded. Florets mostly three or four in each spiket, generally 
three. Has some resemblance to P. pratensis, but its creeping root, and 
the great roughness of the straw and leaves, sufficiently distinguish it, 
though the uncertainty of the number of florets in each spiket might 
otherwise occasion a doubt. 
Bird Grass, by which name it is known to the seedsmen. Fowl Grass. 
Rough-stalked Meadow Grass. (Welsh : Gweun-wellt lledarw. E.) 
Moist meadows and sides of ditches. P. June—July.f 
Var. 3. Reptans. Orcheston Long Grass. Stems trailing, taking root at 
the joints. Spikets with two or three florets. Structure of the spikets 
the same as in the preceding, and the base of the lower floret equally 
woolly ; but the great length to which it trails on the ground before the 
flowering stem rises up gives it a claim to particular notice. 
There is great reason to believe that this is the famous Orcheston grass, 
which, as Mr. Swayne observed to me, was mentioned by Ray (from 
Meret) calling it, Gramen caninum supinum longissimum ; giving as its 
place of growth, Maddington, nine miles from Salisbury. Ray adds. 
* All sorts of cattle eat it. (This is one of the grasses better propagated by dividing 
and transplanting the roots, in moist weather, (adopted and called inoculating by intelli¬ 
gent farmers,) than by sowing seed. FI. bond. Mr. Sinclair considers that its diminu¬ 
tive size, and being an annual, preclude the probability of its being worthy of cultivation. 
It is a most troublesome weed on gravel walks, stone pitchings, &c. It may be over¬ 
come by a layer of litter, or the mowings of the lawn, in sufficient thickness to excite 
fermentation. Hort. Gram. E.) 
*}* (This species is said not to bear the frost so well, nor to shoot so early as P. 
pratensis , but grows faster and produces a greater crop of bottom leaves than most other 
grasses. From a variety of data Mr. Sinclair concludes, that though highly valuable as 
a permanent pasture grass on rich and sheltered soils, it is but little adapted for the 
alternate husbandry, and unprofitable for any purpose on dry exposed situations. E.) 
