PLATE LV.
POA PR ATENSIS.
Smooth-stalked Poa.
Sp e c . C h a r. Panicle spreading? spikets with three or four florets in each? straw smooth;
.membrane of the leaf obtuse.
T here seems in this species a general tendency to become obtuse, as there is an inclination in the
preceding one to acuteness; the leaves of the P. pratensis are not so sharp in their termination, but
the blunt and ovate membrane to the leaf (Fig. A) is the best distinction of the species.- -As an
useful grass its merits are but little inferior to the foregoing trivialis, and like thaf, it becomes very
luxuriant in aquatic places, but will vegetate with infinitely more advantage to the farmer in uplands
than the trivialis will: of these two species so much has been said by all writers upon agricultural
subjects, that information better than we can give must be in the hands of every one, nor could we
expect to labour with any utility in a field so parsimoniously harvested.------These two species o f grass,
in very rich and moist situations, flourish with singular luxuriance, and in the famous meadow at
Orcheston St. Mary,* Wilts, they constitute a full proportion of the crop, and become geniculated and
stoloniferous.
A, part o f the Leaf, shewing the ovate membrane.
B, the valves o f the Calyx.
C, the valves of the Corolla.
(See a variety in the supplementary Plates.)
* This meadow contains about two acres and a half, prodacing.no peculiar species of grass different from meadows
in general; but in that situation they are remarkably luxuriant, from a cause not exactly ascertained: this little spot of
land has produced in the two cuttings (which it annually undergoes) ten tons of hay! and the tythe has been let for 5l !