MOLINIA C2EBULEA. 79 



MOLINIA C^RULEA. 



MCENCH. HOOKER AND ARNOTT. PARNELL. LINDLEY. KOCH. STURM. 

 BEAUVOIS. BABINGTON. REICHENBACH. 



PLATE XXIV. 



Melica alpina, DON. 



Molinia depauperata, LINDLEY. PARNELL. 



Melica cczrulea, LINNAEUS. SMITH. HOOKER. HOST. 



" " GREVILLE. WILLDENOW. SCHRADER. 



" " CURTIS. KNAPP. 



Aira ccerulea, LINN^US. HUDSON. LEERS. OEDER. 



7 he Purple Molinia. 

 Molinia After Molina, a Naturalist. Caerulea Blue. 



MOLINIA. Mcench. A genus named after Don Giovanni Ignatio Molina, 

 who published a work upon the Natural History of Chili seventy-five years 

 ago. There is only one British example, namely, Molinia ccerulea. 



reed-looking Grass, perhaps better known as the Purple Melic 

 Grass, is abundant throughout Scotland, England, and Ireland, 

 growing on damp heathy moors. It is of but little agricultural value. 

 In the Orkney and Shetland Islands the stems are made by the fisher- 

 men into ropes, whilst in England they are manufactured into cheap 

 brooms. 



It occurs in Lapland, Norway, and Sweden, and to the most southern 

 portions of Europe. 



Stem upright, circular, smooth, being bulbous at the base, carrying 

 three lengthy, narrow, linear, taper-pointed, acute, rough leaves, with 

 smooth striated sheaths, the uppermost one shorter than its leaf, bearing 

 at its apex a diminutive ligule. Joints smooth, and close to the base. 

 Inflorescence compound panicled. Panicle upright, lengthy, narrow, 



