TRIANDRIA— DIGYNIA. Melica. Ill 



Poa n. 53. Linn. Fl. Lapp. ed. 1. 29. ed. 2. 30. 

 Gramen Marise Borussorum. Loes. Pruss. lll.t. 26. 



In valleys among the Highlands of Scotland. 



Discovered by the late Mr. G. Don, in a narrow mountain valley 

 called Kella, Angusshire. Hooker. 



Perennial. May, June. 



Root creeping extensively. Stems 12 — 18 inches high, erect, leafy, 

 smooth. Leaves rather broad, flat, naked ; rough at the edges ; 

 those on the stem with very long shenths, though tlie uppermost 

 leaf is often diminished almost to nothing. Stipula short and 

 broad, rather acute. Panicle erect, with slender wavy branches, 

 directed most to one side. Fl. erect, broadly ovate, tumid, gi-een- 

 ish yellow, variegated with purple or brown." Florets not quite 

 filling the calyx. Awns not prominent. 



I have not examined British specimens, so as to make a full au- 

 thentic description of our native plant, but the above particulars 

 agree with the foreign specimens in my possession. This species 

 and Professor Schrader's australis are both glued upon the same 

 paper in the Linneean hei'barium, without any indication where 

 they were gathered, or any mark of distinction between them. 

 A very accurate German botanist Mr. Schkuhr first distinguish- 

 ed them by the nectary, which in the australis is roundish ; and 

 one of its barren Jlorets moreover has a large prominent awn. 

 To these characters we may add that the glumes are all rather 

 longer and more lanceolate, ihe flowers less tumid. Both species 

 are doubtless included under Holcus odoratus, Linn. Sp. PL 

 1485 J but the Swedish and Lapland plant appears, by what 

 Swartz always sent to Schrader, to be Hierpchloe borealis, w^hich 

 is evidently figured in Flora Danica. 



H. borealis is said to be used, at high festivals, for strewing the 

 churches in Prussia, as Acorus Calamus has, time out of mind, 

 been employed in the Cathedral and streets of Norwich, on the 

 mayor's day. 



42. MELICA. Melic-grass. 



Linn. Gen. 34. Juss. 31. Fl.Br.Ql. Lam. t. 44. Gartn.t.SO. 

 Beauv. Agr. 68. t. 14./. 4, 5. 



Cat. of 2 unequal, expanded, concave, ribbed, membranous, 

 awnless valves, containing 1 or 2 \)eri'ect ^orefs, with the 

 stalked rudiments of 1 or 2 more. Cor. of 2 unequal, 

 firmer, and finally cartilaginous, oblong, awnless valves ; 

 the outer one largest, concave, ribbed, either fringed or 

 beardless; inner flat, with 2 marginal ribs. Ncct. cup- 

 shaped, at the base of the germen. Filam. capillary, 

 hardly so long as the corolla. Anth. prominent, pendulous. 

 Germ, roundish. Styles elongated, distant. Stigmas short, 



