50 



The genuSj containing between twenty and thirty species, is 

 widely distributed. Few grasses are more elegant in habit ; but 

 their foliage is in general too scanty to render them of much value. 

 Our two British species are not tenants of the pasture, growing 

 only in woods, thickets, and other shady situations. Their seeds 

 are comparatively large and have a sweetish flavour; hares and 

 rabbits appear to be exceedingly fond of them, as in preserves, where 

 the more common species, M. uniflora, grows abundantly, they are 

 usually consumed before sufficiently ripe for shedding. 



The generic name, bestowed by Linnseus, is borrowed from the 

 Italian melliga, a term applied to the Sorghum vulgare or Millet, 

 from the Latin mel, honey, on account of the honey- like sweetness 

 of its stems. 



The stalked club-shaped rudiment, mentioned in the above cha- 

 racter, constitutes a marked feature of this genus : independent of 

 its presence, the glumes of each spikelet, in our native species at 

 least, contain only one or two perfect flowers. The rudiment springs 

 from between the two flowers, or from the base of the inner glume, 

 between it and the solitary flower, as represented in the magnified 

 figures b, Plates XLIII. and XLIV. Dr. Withering has very cor- 

 rectly described the structure of its club-shaped apex in M. uniflora, 

 as " composed of the rudiments of three or even four florets, each 

 consisting of two membranaceous valves similar in shape to those of 

 the perfect floret ; each supported on a fruit-stalk of its own, rising 

 from the base of the inner valve of the last rudiment ; and each as 

 small again as the floret below it. No stamens or pistils in any of 

 them." 



Melica nutans. Mountain Melic Grass. Plate XLIII. 



Panicle slightly drooping, nearly simple, or like a raceme. Spike- 

 lets unilateral, distant, drooping ; with two perfect flowers. 



Melica nutans, Linncms. E. B. 1059; ed. 3. 116. Generally 

 adopted. 



A native of rocky mountain woods, chiefly in the North of Eng- 

 land. Stems slender, leafyj from a foot to eighteen inches high. 

 Leaves narrow, acuminated, flat ; the ligule short and obtuse. In- 

 florescence usually three or four inches long, the short branches all 

 directed to one side, and almost constantly simple, hence constitu- 

 ting, strictly speaking, a unilateral raceme. Glumes ovate, convex, 

 deep brownish purple with pale margins, three-veined, nearly as 

 long as the included flowers. Palese cartilaginous, unequal, the 

 larger outer one often tinned with purple. The club-shaped rudi- 

 ment rises between the two flowers, and is shown attached at the 

 base of the magnified one figured at b. 



Perennial. Flowers in June and July. 



