592 GEAMiNE^. [Melica. 



the margins or hairj'." — Br. Fl. p. 531. Aira, E. B. t. 648. Airo- 

 chloe, Link. Poa ci'istata, Host. Gram. Aust. ii. 54, t. 75. 



Ou dry, elevated, sandy ov chalky pastures and downs. Fl. June, July. !(.. 



E. Med. — Abundant on Bembridge, Brading and Yaverland downs. On the 

 edges of the cliff above Sandown bay, on the (ferniRinous?) sandstone, plentifully. 

 Abundant also along the top of the cliff between Niton and Old park, 



W. Med. — In the Lenten pit, by Carisbrook. Freshwater down. 



A small species, from 4 to 8 inches in height. Root a little tufted and creep- 

 ing, with long downy fibres. Culms simple, erect or ascending, mostly genicu- 

 late at the lower joints, round, slender, striated, covered with fine spreading down, 

 especially between the branches of the panicle, often quite glabrous in the lower 

 part. Root-leaves tufted, hardly Jth part the height of the culm, very narrow, 

 tapering and hairy, rough or nearly smooth along the edges and keel ; those of 

 the culm about 2, the uppermost towards the middle, the lower one near the base, 

 of the culm, extremely short, broad and pointed in my specimens (as in Knapp's 

 figure, though drawn narrow in E. B.), ribbed, flat and hairy, with long, tumid, 

 downy sheaths. Ligule very short. Panicle erect, an inch to 2 inches long (4 or 

 5, iSm.), compact, subspicate, subcylindrical, with a silvery gray aspect, of several 

 sets of short, half-whorled, compound branches. Glumes unequal, lanceolate, 

 acuminate, compressed, greenish, with purple edges, each with a strong, dorsal, 

 green rib, their keels roughish or hairy; the inner and larger glume 3-ribbed at 

 the base. Florets rarely more than 2, sometimes 3, scarcely exceeding the glumes, 

 their oaXev palea resembling the larger or inner glume in form and colour, and in 

 being, like that, .3-nerved; inner valve thin, white, chaffy, deeply bifid, the mar- 

 gins sharply folded their entire length, and serrated along the back of each dupli- 

 cature. Anthers purplish. Stigmas simple, spreading or deflexed, 



XIV. Melica, Linn. Melic-grass. 



" Panicle lax. Sinkelets ovate, awnless, with 1 — 2 perfect 

 florets, and a club-shaped rudimentary neuter one. Glumes 2, 

 nearly equal, shorter than the florets, several-nerved. Glumellas. 

 2 ; outer one rounded on the hack, entire at the end, at length 

 cartilaginous and enclosing the free caryopsis." — Br. Fl. 



1. M. uniflora, Eetz. Wood Melic-grass. Panicle branched 

 slightly drooping, spikelets ovate erect with only one perfect 

 floret. Sm. E. Fl. i. p. 112. Br. Fl. p. 529. Lind. Syn. p. 307. 

 E. B. XV, t. 1058. Curt. Fl. Lo7id. fasc. 5, t. Knapp, Gram. 

 Brit. t. 41. Host. Gram. Aust. ii. 9, t. 11. Pani. Gr. t. 18. 



In shady woods and lanes ; frequent. Fl. May, June. If.. 



A slender, elegant grass. Root of many entangled, white and jointed rhizoms, 

 creeping horizontally, often somewhat bulbous, emitting copious capillary branched 

 fibres. Culms several, nearly erect, weal, slender, a foot or 18 inches high, sim- 

 ple, compressed, striated, slightly hairy beneath. Leaves narrow, bright green, 

 taper-pointed, thin, flat, downy above and on the edges, siijoolh and ribbed be^ 

 neath, with close striated sAmi/is. Xj^m/i? short, truncate, with an elongated subu- 

 late point opposite the leaf, a peculiarity of rare occurrence in other grasses. 

 Panicle terminal, about a span long, of very few distant, binary, nearly simple, 

 slightly flexuose branches, leaning to one side but scarcely drooping, slender and 

 roughish: one branch of each pair is usually shorter than the other or sometimes 

 nearly wanting, and bearing an abortive spikelet; these last are ovate, erect, tre- 

 mulous. Glumes unequal, purplish ; superior boat-shaped, somewhat awned, 

 4-ribbed, with a roughish keel; inferior ovato-lanceolate, 2-ribbed. Perfect floret 

 sessile, its palete rather unequal, green ; superior or inner one 2-ribbed, downy, 

 deeply grpoved behind a reduplication floret; inferior or uwYfc valve very hollow 



