Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Melic-grass

MELIC-GRASS, or Melica, L. a genus of perennial plants, comprising 14 species, of which the following are the principal:

1. The nutans, or Mountain Melic-grass, which abounds in the mountainous woods of the northern parts of Britain: it flowers in the months of June and July. This species is eaten by cows, horses, and goats;—in the Isle of Raasay, it is manufactured into twine for fishing-nets, which are remarkable for their durability.

2. The cœrulea, or Purple Melic-grass, growing on boggy barren meadows and pastures, and flowering in the months of July and August. This valuable plant is eagerly eaten by horses, sheep, and goats: it also affords an excellent substitute for hair, in the manufacture of brooms, which furnish considerable employment for the country people, in the western counties of England.

3. The ciliata, or Fringed Melic-grass:

4. The altissima, or Lofty Melic-grass:—both are exotic, but valuable plants; as the former thrives on barren stony hills, where its stalk grows from two to three feet high, and is an excellent pasture-grass; while the latter is of a bushy nature, delights in almost every soil, and is much relished by cattle. Both species, therefore, deserve to be diligently cultivated in the northern parts of Britain, where large trads of mountainous land produce scarcely any grass for sheep.