79 



MOLINIA C^RULEA. 



MCENCH. HoOKEE AND AeNOTT. PaENELL. LlNDLET. KoCH. StUBI 



Beauvois. Babington. Beichenbach. 



PLATE XXIV. 



Melica alpina, Don. 



Molinia depauperata, Lindlet. Paenell. 



Melica ccerulea, Linnjeus. Smith. Hookee. Host. 



" " Geevilie. TVilldenow. ScnEADEB. 



" " CUETIS. KNAPP. 



Aira ccerulea, liiN'ssvs. Hudson. Leees. Oedeb. 



The Purple Molinia. 



Molinia — After Molina, a Naturalist. Ccerulea — Blue. 



Molinia, Mmnch. — A genus named after Don Giovanni Ignatio Molina, 

 who published a work upon the Natural History of Chili seventy-five years 

 ago. There is only one British example, namely, Molinia ccendea. 



This reed-looking Grass, perhaps better known as the Purple 

 Melic Grass, is abundant throughout Scotland, England, and 

 Ireland, growing on damp heathy moors. It is of but little 

 agricultural value. In the Orkney and Shetland Islands the 

 stems are made by the fishermen into ropes, whilst in England 

 they are manufactured into cheap brooms. 



It occurs in Lapland, Norway, and Sweden, and to the most 

 southern portions of Europe. 



Stem upright, circular, smooth, being bulbous at the base, 

 carrying three lengthy, narrow, linear, taper-pointed, acute, rough 

 leaves, with smooth striated sheaths, the uppermost one shorter 



