41 



MILIUM EFFUSUM. 



Linnaeus. Smith. Paenell. Hookeb and Abnott. Lindley. 



Geeville. Koch. Hudson. Witheeing. Hull. Belhan. SiBTHour. 



Abbot. Cuetis. Knapp. Leebs. Schbadeb. Sinclaib. 



plate xii. 



G-ramen miliaceum, Eat. Gebabde. 



" " vulgare, Moeison. 



The Spreading Millet Grass. 



Milium — Millet. Effusum— Spreading. 



Milium. Linnccus. — Confined to one British species, with spreading 

 panicle, having in some degree dorsally-compressed awnless spikelets. with 

 two almost equal-sized glumes, and the same number of glumellas. Millet 

 Grass, says Sir W. Hooker, either receives its name from mi lie — a thousand, 

 on account of its fertility, or from mil — a stone, because of the hardness 

 of its seeds. 



An elegant Grass, growing commonly in damp woods and in 

 moist shady situations. Of no agricultural value, but the seeds 

 are a favourite food of small birds. 



Common in many portions of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 



Abroad it is found in Norway, Sweden, Lapland, North 

 America, the United States, and in the Mediterranean Islands. 



Root fibrous, perennial, and branching. Stem upright, smooth, 

 slender, shining; and having four or five broad, flat, pale green, 

 shining, smooth, lanceolate-shaped leaves, with sheaths that are 

 smooth and striated, the upper sheath having an oblong membran- 

 ous ligule. Joints smooth. Inflorescence compound panicled, 

 or spreading, the panicle being glabrous, subverticillate, loose, 

 and of large size, with lengthy slender branches arranged in 

 alternate distant clusters along the rachis. Spikelets abundant, 

 small, ovate in form, on delicate footstalks, and consisting of 



