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[ 1 ^ 6 5 ]
POA nemoralis.
Wood Meadow-grass.
TRIANDRIA Digynia,
G en. C har. Cal. of 2 valves, containing many florets,
Spikelet rounded at the base. Cor. pf 2 ovate,
pointed, beardless valves.
Spec. Char, Panicle and leaves slender. Spikelets lanceolate,
o f about three flowers. Glumes acute, ob*
soletely five-ribbed. Stipula very short, notched.
Syn. Poa nemoralis. Linn. Sp. PI. 102. Sri. FI. Brit,
106, With. 146, Hull, 22. R e lh .34!, Sibth. 43,
Abbot. 19.
P. angustifolia /3. Huds. 41,
j3. P. angustifolia «. Huds. 40,
P. pratensis, var. 2, With. 142, Hull. 21,
I n the north of England scarcely any wood or grove can be
found in which this grass does not compose the tall thin herbage
under the trees, in which situations it thrives well, In the
south it is less frequent, but abounds in Charlton wood, and
other places on a chalky soil, flowering in July and August.
The root is perennial, very slightly creeping, Stems several,
erect, a foot and half high, slender, flatfish, striated, smooth.
Leaves almost all growing on the stem, narrow, taper-pointed,
striated, rough to the touch, except the under side of the
lower ones. Sheaths shorter than the leaves, compressed,
smoothish, each crowned with a very short notched stipula.
Panicle nearly upright, loose, slender, rough and zigzag.
Spikelets small, lanceolate, acute, purplish and a little shining,
smooth, except the keel of the calyx towards the top. Florets
from 2 to 4, lanceolate, obscurely 5-ribbed, silky at their back,
and hairy at their base, but not connected by long complicate^
threads.
The variety /3, which Mr. Hudson, we know not why, made
the original species, is a stouter plant, more like P . pratensis,
and trivialis, but differing from them in essential characters.