246 



GRAMINEAE. 



Vol. I. 



84. MELICA L. Sp. PI. 66. 1753. 



Perennial grasses, with usually soft flat leaf-blades and contracted or open panicles. 

 Spikelets i-several-flowered, often secund, the rachilla extended beyond the flowers and 

 usually bearing 2-3 empty club-shaped or hooded scales, convolute around each other. Two 

 lower scales empty, membranous, 3-5-nerved; flowering scales larger, rounded on the back, 

 7-13-nerved, sometimes bearing an awn, the margins more or less scarious; palets broad, 

 shorter than the scales, two-keeled. Stamens three. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain 

 free, enclosed in the scale and palet. [Name used by Theophrastus for Sorghum; said to be 

 in allusion to the sweet culms of some species.] 



About 30 species, inhabiting temperate regions. Besides the following, some 15 others occur in 

 the Rocky Mountains and on the Pacific Coast. Type species : Melica ciliata L. 



Terminal scales of the spikelet differing in shape from those below, forming a hood-shaped mass 



which is much shorter than the other scales. 



Spikelet9 2-flowered, the second empty scale nearly as long as the spikelet, the flowering scales 



terminating on the same plane. 1. M. mutica, 



Spikelets usually 3-flowered, the second empty scale much shorter than the spikelet, the second 



flowering scale terminating beyond the apex of the first. 2. M. nitens. 



Terminal scales like the others in shape, forming a convolute but not hood-shaped mass, which equals 



or extends beyond the apex of the other scales. 3. M. Porteri. 



I. Melica mutica Walt. Narrow Melic-grass. Fig. 591. 



Melica mutica Walt. Fl. Car. 78. 1788. 



Melica mutica var. glabra A. Gray, Man. Ed. 5, 626. 



1867. 

 M. altissima Walt. Fl. Car. 78. 1788. Not L. 1753. 

 Melica diffusa Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 77. 1814. 

 Melica mutica var. diffusa A. Gray, Man. Ed. 5, 626. 



1867. 



Culms i°-3° tall, erect, usually slender, simple, 

 smooth and glabrous. Sheaths often overlapping, 

 rough; ligule i"-2" long; blades rough, 4'-o/ long, 

 i"-5" wide; panicle sh'-iok' in length, narrow, 

 the branches spreading or ascending, 1/-2' long; 

 spikelets about 2-flowered, $¥'-$' long, nodding, 

 on more or less flexuous pubescent pedicels; 

 empty scales very broad, acutish to obtuse, the 

 first shorter than the second, which is nearly as 

 long as the spikelet or sometimes equals it; flow- 

 ering scales 3"-4" long, generally very obtuse, 

 scabrous. 



In rich soil, Maryland to Wisconsin, south to 

 Florida and Texas. June-July. 



2. Melica nitens Nutt. Tall Melic-grass. Fig. 592. 



Melica nitens Nutt. ; Piper, Bull. Torr. Club 32 : 387. 

 1905. 



Culms ii°-4° tall, erect, simple, smooth and 

 glabrous. Sheaths shorter than the internodes, 

 the lower often overlapping; ligule i"-2" long; 

 blades 4'-7' long, 2"-4" wide, rough; panicle 6¥- 

 84' in length, open, the branches spreading or as- 

 cending, the lower 1F-3' long; spikelets usually 

 numerous, about 3-flowered, 4J"-sJ" long, nod- 

 ding, on slender, more or less flexuous pubescent 

 pedicels ; empty basal scales very broad, obtuse or 

 acutish, the first shorter than the second, which is 

 generally much exceeded by the spikelet ; flowering 

 scales ■3l"-4i" long, acute or obtuse, scabrous. 



Woods and cliffs, Pennsylvania to Nebraska and 

 Texas. Erroneously called Melica diffusa Pursh, in 

 our first edition, that name proving to be a synonym of 

 the preceding species. May-June. 



