110 MOLINIA. [CIAM iH. ORB*a U. 



rously ribbed, purplish green, the margins pale and membranous; 

 inner valve pale, ovate acute, flat, smooth, except on the two strong 

 marginal ribs, from the inner edge of which is inflexed a narrow thin 

 membranous border. Imperfect florets paler, one, two, or three, each 

 rising on a short stalk from the base of the inner valve of the floret below 

 it. I have occasionally observed three perfect florets, in fine luxuriant 

 specimens. Anthers yellow. Stiymas distant, rather long, feathery. 

 Seed ovate attenuated, loose, in its covering of the hardened glumelles. 



Habitat. Woods in subalpine districts ; not common. Middleton 

 Dale, and other parts of Derbyshire. Most frequent in the north of 

 England and in Scotland. 



Perennial ; flowering from May to June. 



2. M. uniflo'ra, Retz. (Fig. 137.) wood Melic-grass. Panicle 

 branched ; spikelets erect, spreading, containing one perfect floret. 



English Botany, t. 1058. English Flora, vol. i. p. 112. Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 307. Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 41. 



Root with creeping underground stems. Stem erect, from one to two 

 feet high, slender, smooth, striated, leafy, simple. Leaves flat, broader 

 than the preceding species, thin, striated, roughish. Sheaths close, 

 striated, nearly smooth. Ligula very short. Inflorescence a long 

 branched, nearly erect, spreading panicle ; its branches distant, slender, 

 nearly smooth. Spikelets few, distant, erect. Glumes unequal, smooth, 

 purplish brown, as long as the florets ; outer valve smallest, lanceolate, 

 with a single dorsal rib ; inner larger, ovate lanceolate, five-ritfbed. 

 Perfect floret sessile, cartilaginous. Glumelles unequal ; outer ralve 

 ovate, ribbed, pale green, with a purplish tinge, very concave; inner 

 flat, smooth, except the two strong lateral ribs, from the inner edge of 

 which is inflexed a broadish border. Glumellula of one thick notched 

 yellow piece at the base of the outer valve of the glurnella. Imperfect 

 floret elevated on a smooth bent stalk, half as long as the perfect floret : 

 the outer valve concave, of a very irregular shape, embracing the much 

 smaller inner valve, and the rudiment of second still more imperfectly 

 formed stalked floret. Anthers yellow. Stigmas distant, feathery. 

 Seed small, truncate. 



Habitat. In the shade of woods and groves ; frequent. 



Perennial; flowering from May to July. 



GENUS XXXV. MOLIN'JA. M(ENCH. 



GEN. CHAR. Panicle loose. Spikelets tv.o or more flowered, and 

 sometimes with an imperfect floret. Glumes two, unequal, much 

 shorter than the florets. Glumelles two, nearly equal, awnless. 

 Name in honour of Giovanni lynatiu Molinia, who published an 

 account of the plants of Chile in 1782, 



