Varieties. 
78 
ground roots and secondary branches are again produced. These like their predecessors either ascend 
directly or creep at first along the ground. In smovth-stalked meadow-grass the horizontal branches 
are underground whereas here they are on the ground, and this constitutes the only essential difference 
in the modes of growth of these grasses. 
The base of the culm lies on the ground; at the second or third node it ascends and reaches a 
height of 2 or 3 feet. It is always rough beneath the panicle: this roughness is most readily perceived 
when the culm is drawn across the tongue. (Ddéll found in Baden a single variety with the culms and 
the sheaths quite smooth). 
The leaf-sheaths (fig. 14) are rough from below upwards, laterally compressed, two-edged, and 
entire at least in youth. Later, they may he more or less ruptured and split in consequence of the 
growth of the parts which they surrounded. On the culms, they are always split in this way. The 
young sheath is never folded like that of Poa pratensis (fig. 14). 
In the bud, the leaf-blade is folded. On each side of the midrib there are usually five well-marked 
veins. Other veins between these are indistinct and vary in number. Right and left of the midrib on 
the upper surface there is deep groove lined with »bulliform cells« (fig. 15). On both surfaces above 
the stronger veins, the ribs are slightly marked, each rib is occupied by a »bast bundle« separate and 
quite distinct from the fibro-vascular bundle (fig. 15) which forms the vein beneath. 
The ligule of the culm-leaves is long, acwte, and eroded (figs. 16—18). On the radical leaves it 
is much shorter (fig. 19). 
The inflorescence is an erect, ovale panicle, contracted before, but spreading during flowering ; its 
colour is pale green, rarely variegated with violet. 
The flat spikelet usually contains three flowers (fig. 1). The lower glume is one-ribbed, the upper, 
three-ribbed and longer: both have rough teeth along the keel (fig. 1). The lower pale is five-ribbed; 
the long woolly hairs forming the web are confined to its base; along the keel and marginal ribs the 
hair is quite short and inconspicuous (fig. 5). The upper pale is rough on the two keels which have 
minute teeth. When the spikelet is broken the pales remain suspended by the web of hairs (fig. 2); 
the same is the case with smooth-stalked meadow-grass, 
On flowering (fig. 4), the pales open, and the stamens and stigmas project at the sides; the 
anthers discharge their pollen quite early before the filaments have bent down ; self-fertilization is thus 
possible. 
When ripe, the spikelets break up into false fruits or »seeds« in the same way as those of 
smooth-stalked meadow-grass. The webs of hair*interlace and bind the fruits together into clumps 
(fig. 6). Both pales envelop the caryopsis very closely; the upper can be removed only with great 
difficulty. The lower pale, seen from the side, tapers slightly becoming somewhat acute towards the 
apex; and the ribs are prominent (fig. 8); the margins overlap the ventral surface very slightly so that 
the keels of the upper pale are quite uncovered (fig. 9). The wpper pale has a deep longitudinal groove 
as it is pressed down into a corresponding groove in the caryopsis (fig, 9). The stalk of that false fruit 
which occupied the apex of a spikelet is half as long as the fruit itself; its conical termination is merely 
the rudimentary pale (fig. 6 to the left); the other false fruits have the stalks short and truncate (figs. 7 
and 8). The ventral surface of the caryopsis has a deep groove (figs, 12 and 43), and the hack is 
obtusely keeled (fig. 13); hilum is suborbicular and lies at the base of the groove (fig. 12.); both apex 
and base are rownded (fig. 10 and 42). 
Length of false fruit (seed) 2—2'/2 mm. 
x) , caryopsis . . . 1—4*/2 mm. 
=! , stak . . . . ‘/7—*/2 of the false fruit 
Thickness of stalkk . . . 0.08 mm. 
Varieties. There are no varieties of agricultural importance. 
