]\[i;lica, Linn. 



Spikelets ill s])ike or raceme-like or opsn panicles, laterally or dorsally com- 

 pressed, or subterete, jointed (sometimes imperfectly) on their pedicels or continuous 

 with them ; rhachilla tardily disarticulatin<>' . above the glumes, readily between the 

 fertile -yalves, lower 1 or 2 (rarely 3) florets hermaphrodite, the following 2-3 barren, 

 small, embracing each other and forming a clavate or oblong body. 



(tLUXies 2, membranous, hyaline or scarious obtuse or acute, o to o-ner\'ed, or 

 the upper 7 -nerved. Fertile valves firmly membranous except at the hyaline margins 

 and tips, awnless, 7 to 9-nerved, nerves evanescent below the ti])s ; callus minute, 

 obtuse. Pales shorter than the valves, 2-keelecl. Lodicules 2, small, trunc;ite, (juite 

 connate. Stamens 3. Chary glabrous ; styles distinct, short ; stigmas laterally 

 exserted, finely plumose. Grain enclosed by the more or less hardened (chartaceous) 

 valve and the pale, free, oblong, semiterete to subterete ; hilum a fine line as long as 

 the grain ; embryo small. 



Perexxial ; blades flat or convolute ; ligules hyalhie. Panicles open, spike- 

 like or almost reduced to a raceme, man}- to few-spiculate, often secund. Spikelets 

 more or less scarioiis, often vi^'idly coloui;ed, nodding on capillary pedicels, the tips of 

 which are usually strongly incurved. 



About 40 species, mainly iii the northern temperate zone, a few in the temjjerate 

 regions of the southern hemisjDhere. 



PLATE 450. 



Melica racemosa, Thunb. (Fl. Cap., Vol. Xll., p. GcSo.) 

 Xat. Order Graminete. 



CuLiis ascending from a usually long ver}' slender wiry sometimes procumbent 

 base, simple or branched below, '2 to 3 feet long, glabrous, smooth or scabrid below 

 the panicle, many-noded, internodes (except the uppermost) mostly enclosed.' 



Lea\'es glabrous, scabrid, rather croAvded above the base, the lowest more or less 

 reduced ; sheaths tight, striate ; ligules up to 1 line long ; blades linear, tapering to a 

 fine point, 3 to 6 inches long, J to 1 J line \\-ide when expanded, usually convolute, 

 subglaucous. 



Paxicle very narrow, 3 to 9 inches long, erect or nodding, more or less secund ; 

 branches mostly solitary, distant, erect or suberect, branched or more often simple, 

 filiform capillary, flexuous, often much shorter than the internodes ; pedicels J to 1 J 

 line long, tips thickened, pubescent. 



Spikelets pallid, rarely slighth' purplish, 3 to 5 lines long, fertile flowers 2. 



Glujies unequal or subequal, 5-nerved, the lower hyaUne, ovate acute, 3 to 3J 

 lines long, the upper oblong, firmer, acuminate, nerves rather cftose and prominent, 

 slightly scabrid, 3J to 4^ lines long. A'alves slightly exceeding or eciualling the 

 glumes, the fertile oblong, obtuse or minutely truncate or emarginate, 7 to 9-nerved, 

 nerves rather prominent, scabrid, sides only hairy ; hairs 2 lines long ; body of barren 

 valves clavate, glabrous, scaberulous. Anthers 1 line long. Grain 1 tf) \\ line 

 long, semiterete. ' 



ESLMtat : Xatal. Berea, near Durban, by the roadside. Wood 3926 ; 

 Merebank, near Durban, Wood 7258 ; A^ernon, Buchanan 155 ; Weenen County, 4000 

 feet alt., ]]"ood 3590. 



A'ery like the Mediterranean M. ciUata, but differing in the rough lea\'es, the less 

 a,cuminate upper glume and the more obtuse valves. 



.Fig 1, Spikelet ; 2, lower glume ; 3, upper glume ; 4, valve ; 5, pale ; 6, pistil, stamens 

 and lodicules. All eularffed. 



