Poa.

Poa abyssinica Jacq. Gramineae. Teff.

A mountain plant of Abyssinia, cultivated everywhere there, at a height of from 2500 to 8000 feet where gentle heat and rain favor its development. Its seeds furnish the favorite bread of the Abyssinians in the form of thin, highly leavened and spongy cakes. Pour varieties of this grain are cultivated. Parkyns writes that teff is considered by the Abyssinians wholesome and digestible, but so far from being satisfied of this, he is doubtful of its containing much nutritive property and as for its taste, he says, "fancy yourself chewing a piece of sour sponge and you will have a good idea of what is considered the best bread in Abyssinia."

Poa flabellata Hook. f.

Fuego and the Falkland Islands. Ross says the lower part of the culm in the tussock is so fleshy and juicy that when a tuft of leaves is drawn out from a tussock-bog, an inch of the base, about the thickness of a finger, affords a very sweet morsel, with flavor like nuts. Two men subsisted almost entirely upon this substance for 14 months.

Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.