1012 



THE GRASS FAMILY. 



Fig. 1233. 



to above a foot long, green or purplish ; 

 the branches erect or scarcely spreading. 

 ►Spikelets erect, narrow and pointed, 2 

 to 4 lines long, usually with about 3 

 flowers. Glumes acute, the outer one 

 shorter than the flowering ones, and ra- 

 ther unequal. 



In wet heathy places, moors, w r oods, 

 and waste places, throughout Europe 

 and Russian Asia, from the Mediter- 

 ranean to the Arctic regions. Common 

 in Britain, except where destro}^ed by 

 cultivation. Fl. late in summer, cr 

 autumn. 



XXXVIII. MELICK. MELICA. 



Spikelets awnless, rather large, and 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 flower- 

 ing ones of a rather firmer texture. 



A small but natural and widely dispersed genus, readily known by 

 the small, terminal, empty glumes, much more conspicuous than in any 

 of the allied genera. 



Spikelets drooping, 2-flowered 1. Mountain M. 



Spikelets erect, 1-nowered 2. Wood M. 



1. Mountain Melick. Melica nutans, Linn. (Fig. 1234.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1059.) 



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 aj^pearance of a simple raceme. Spike- 

 lets about 10 to 15, drooping, 3 or even 4 lines long, 2-flowered ; the 



