544 THE GRASS FAMILY. | [Molinia ia. 
erect, narrow and pointed, 2 to 4 lines long, usually with about 3 
flowers. Glumes acute, the outer ones shorter than the flowering ones, 
and rather unequal. 
In wet heathy places, moors, woods, and waste places, throughout 
Europe and temperate Asia, from the Mediterranean to the Arctic 
regions. Common in Britain, except where destroyed by cultivation. 
Fl. late in summer, or autumn. [M. depauperata, Lindl., is a 1-flowered 
state. | 
XXXVITI. MELICA. MELICK. 
Spikelets awnless, rather large, and a few in a slender panicle, each 
with 1 or 2 flowers, besides a small, terminal, wedge-shaped glume, 
enclosing 1 or 2 more minute or rudimentary ones. Glumes broad and 
several-nerved, but not keeled ; the outer empty ones thin, the flowering 
ones of a rather firmer texture. 
A small but natural and widely dispersed genus, readily known by 
the small, terminal, empty glumes, much more cons pia than in any 
of the allied genera. 
Spikelets drooping, 2-flowered : : ; ; ; ; : . Lm. nutans. 
Spikelets erect, 1-flowered . : , : ; . 2 M. uniflora. 
1. M. nutans, Linn. (fig. 1253). pene M.—A slender erect 
perennial, 1 to 2 feet high, with erect, flat leaves. Panicle one-sided, 
2 to 3 inches long; the short but slender branches usually erect, so as 
to give it the appearance of asimple raceme. Spikelets about 10 to 15, 
drooping, 3 to even 4 lines long, 2-flowered ; the outer glumes brown 
or purple, with scarious edges, the flowering ones scarcely protruding 
beyond them; the inner imperfect glume much shorter, broadly wedge- 
shaped. 
a woods, and shady rocky places, in hilly districts, extending all 
over Europe and Russian Asia, to the Arctic zone. In Britain, only in 
Scotland and the west of England. Fl. early summer. 
2. M. uniflora, Linn. (fig. 1254). Wood M.—An elegant perennial, 
1 to 2 feet high, more slender even than /. nutans, with longer and 
narrower leaves. Leaf-sheath quite closed, opposite to the blade as in 
Cyperacee, and produced into a small. green point. Panicle sometimes 
reduced to an almost simple raceme with only 8 or 4 spikelets, some- 
times with a few long, slender, distant branches, each bearing several 
spikelets. Each spikelet near 3 lines long, coloured asin M. nutans, 
but erect and containing but one flower; the imperfect inner glume 
oblong, stalked, and reaching to the height of the flowering one. 
In woods and shady places, in central and southern Europe, extend- 
ing eastward to the Caucasus and northward into Scandinavia. Fre- 
quent in England and Ireland, quite local in Scotland. Fl. early 
summer. 
XXXIX. TRIODIA. TRIODIA. 
Spikelets awnless, rather large, and few in a panicle, contracted 
almost into a simple raceme, and few-flowered. Outer glumes pointed, 
