ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 101 



Mr. Bolander read the following paper : 



The Genus Melica in California. 



BY H. N. BOLANDER. 



The distribution of the various representatives of the genus Melica affords 

 an interesting indication of climatic differences. By far the largest number of 

 the species, belonging to this characteristic and well-marked genus, are found 

 growing in dry and arid habitats. Of the fifty-seven species known, twenty- 

 seven belong to the countries near or adjoining the Mediterranean Sea, and 

 fourteen to the dry western coast of South and North America. 



The distribution of our species accords well with these general facts, for east 

 of the Rocky Mountains but one species is known to exist, while California 

 has already yielded eight, and with several very marked varieties. 



1. Melica imperfecta Trin. 



M. c 1 p od i i d e s Nees, Steud. Syn. Plant. Gram., p. 291. A perennial 

 and exceedingly variable grass, growing in deep, loose soil, forming large leafy 

 tufts in lightly shaded places, especially around shrubs and on wooded hillsides. 

 In deep shady woods and thickets it becomes quiie depauperated, and has the 

 habit of an entirely different grass. Cattle touch it only early in spring, when 

 its leaves are yet quite delicate and soft. It is very common on the eastern flanks 

 of the Coast Ranges, north and south of San Francisco— March and May. 



Melica imperfecta var. fexuosa Bol. 



This differs from the ordinary forms, in having a very open and simple 

 panicle, with the refJexed branchlets generally in pairs, and few flowered. The 

 flowers are paler and rather more coriaceous, and somewhat larger and acu- 

 minate; on rocks on the road from Mariposa to Clark's, at about 3,500 feet alt., 

 June, 1866. 



2. Melica poajoides Nutt. 



A coarse tufted perennial, drab-colored grass, exceedingly variable in its 

 habit. It usually grows in a hard, dry, clayey soil, of the more dry and arid 

 portions of the valleys of the Coast Ranges. It is, in fact, the counterpart of 

 M. imperfecta in point of selection of habitats. Its culms are mostly tumid and 

 tunicated at the base. 



On the last day of August, 1866, I collected a large tuft of this grass at the 

 base of a moraine, near Mount Dana, at an altitude of 10,000 feet ; it differs 

 in no point from the more reduced and depauperated forms often found in the 

 hot and dry valleys. This species has apparently a very wide range. It is not 

 touched by cattle. 



Melica poaoides var. inflatn Bol. 



Spikelets oblong, cylindrical, 5 to 6 eighths of an inch long, 6 to 8 flowered, 

 uppermost abortive, closely imbricated. % 



