51 



Though a local, the Mountain Melic is not a rare grass, growing 

 abundantly in many places in Yorkshire, Westmoreland, Cumber- 

 land, and, less frequently, in Scotland. 



Melica uniflora. Wood Melic Grass. Platb XLIV. 



Panicle distantly branched, slightly drooping. Spikelets erect; 

 with one perfect flower. 



Melica uniflora, iie<^. £.5.1058; ed. 2. 115. Generally adopted. 



Common in woods and under hedges, especially in hilly districts. 

 Somewhat creeping at the lower part, rooting wherever the nodes 

 come in contact with the soil. Flowering stems erect, slender, from 

 one to two feet in height. Leaves much broader than those otM. 

 nutans, flat, the ligule short, obtuse, with, occasionally, " a slender 

 acuminate lobe on one side" {Babington). Panicle few-flowered, 

 three to six or eight inches long ; the branches distant, very slender, 

 almost capillary. Glumes reddish purple, with pale margins. 



Perennial. Flowers from May to July. 



Genus 21. HOLCUS. Soft Grass. 

 Gen. Char. Inflorescence paniculate, spreading when in flower. 

 Spikelets stalked, two-flowered ; the flowers rather distant ; 

 the lower one perfect, awnless ; the upper stameniferous only, 

 with a long dorsal awn. Glumes two, nearly equal, membra- 

 naceous, keeled, longer than the flowers. Paleae two, mem- 

 branaceous, equal; the lower one awned in the imperfect 

 flower. Fruit loosely invested by the dry palese. 



The grasses included in this genus are in general very soft to 

 the touch, in consequence of the downy covering of their leaves and 

 inflorescence ; hence the English name. They yield abundant 

 foliage, but are so much disliked by cattle, that, even in overstocked 

 pastures, the tufts of the more common British species often remain 

 untouched, while every other Laf around them is closely cropped. 

 Utility and plenty are not by any interpretation synonymous, and 

 its recommendation on the latter plea is unsupported by any evi- 

 dence as to the former. In this case at least, the herbage which our 

 horses and oxen decline eating on the field, is equally ungrateful to 

 their palates as hay, and hunger alone will induce them to feed upon 

 that of which the Soft Grass constitutes any considerable proportion. 

 The farmer would be justified in regarding all the members of the 

 genus Holms as weeds, and so far from admitting the seeds of either 

 foreign or British species, in the mixtures advertised by their seeds- 

 men, for laying down fresh pasture, they would act more wisely in 

 endeavouring to eradicate the latter wherever they spring up spon- 

 taneously. H. odoratus ?, H. fragrans of Pui'sh, a North American, 



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