PASTURES OF THE SOUTH-WEST. 
217 
and, save one, Bromus Diandrus, the only grass in class Diandria 
peculiar to this island. In the south-west of England, mixed with 
Holcus and Cocksfoot, it falls fresh before the scythe far on in June, 
and here, whatever may be the case elsewhere, there is virtue in the 
old report, ascribing chiefly to Anthoxanthum the grateful perfume 
of our hay-fields, given off powerfully whilst drying, as anyone may 
know by carrying a few spikes of Sweet Vernal in the pocket for a 
day or two. 
The smooth-stalked meadow grass, Poa pratensis, is early, rich, 
and good ; rather affecting the upland pasture, and consorting in 
some counties with Sheep's Fescue. It depends mainly on a creep- 
ing root, sheds little seed, and where once established becomes an 
abiding plant. 
Not so the rough-stalked meadow grass, Poa trivialis, delighting 
only in moist meadows, where it depends more on seed yielded in 
abundance, and goes off sometimes after being cut. This excellent 
grass is called in Lombardy, " Queen of the Meadows." The slight 
difference between the two last-named species is chiefly marked by 
the stipule or ear-lobe of the leaf, which is inclined to become 
acute in trivialis and obtuse in the smooth-stalked variety. Though 
both these grasses are common to Devon and Cornwall, I have 
never found them to form in any marked degree the staple of our 
pastures. 
Everyone has noticed the Flote Grass, Poa fluitans, trailing over 
the pools which so often adorn our picturesque, deep, and winding 
west-country lanes, but all are not aware what a valuable winter 
grass this pond weed is. In Berks and Wilts, lands have been laid 
under water to foster the growth of this floating meadow or manna 
grass, for early spring requirements, and well it should be so, for 
w 7 hen " winter lingers in the lap of May," green herbage is priceless. 
The seeds of this grass, constituting the manna of commerce, are 
especially large and well esteemed in parts of Poland, Holland, and 
Germany; and in British streams they are the sweet morsels of 
geese, ducks, and even trout. 
That universal weed and juicy grass, Poa annua, never forms in 
our west-country meadows the entire floor, as it sometimes does in 
Suffolk, where it has been especially cultivated. 
On the Fescue grasses we will not dwell long, because they enter 
but slightly into the warp and woof of our feeding-grounds. 
Festuca duriuscula rarely enters, so far as I have seen, into the 
