41 
MILIUM EFFUSUM. 
Linnzxvs. Situ. Parnett. Hooker anp Arnott. LInDLEy. 
GREVILLE. Kocnu. Hvupson. Witnerine. Hunt. Rennan. Srisryorpe. 
Axppot. Curtis. Knapp. Lrers. Scuraper. SINcLAIR. 
PLATE XII. 
Gramen miliaceum, Ray. GERARDE. 
- fe vulgare, Morison. 
The Spreading Millet Grass. 
Milium—Millet. Effusum—Spreading. 
Mitium. JLinneus.—Confined to one British species, with spreading 
panicle, having in some degree dorsally-compressed awnless spikelets, with 
two almost equal-sized glumes, and the same number of glumellas. Millet 
Grass, says Sir W. Hooker, either receives its name from mi//e—a thousand, 
on account of its fertility, or from miJl—a stone, because of the hardness 
of its seeds. 
Aw elegant Grass, growing commonly in damp woods and in 
moist shady situations. Of no agricultural value, but the seeds 
are a favourite food of small birds. 
Common in many portions of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 
Abroad it is found in Norway, Sweden, Lapland, North 
America, the United States, and in the Mediterranean Islands. 
Root fibrous, perennial, and branching. Stem upright, smooth, 
slender, shining; and having four or five broad, flat, pale green, 
shining, smooth, lanceolate-shaped leaves, with sheaths that are 
smooth and striated, the upper sheath having an oblong membran- 
ous ligule. Joints smooth. Inflorescence compound panicled, 
or spreading, the panicle being glabrous, subverticillate, loose, 
and of large size, with lengthy slender branches arranged in 
alternate distant clusters along the rachis. Spikelets abundant, 
small, ovate in form, on delicate footstalks, and consisting of 
