MELICA, ROPEGRASS: A genus of the digynia order, belonging to the triandria class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 4th order Gramina. The calyx is bivalved, biflorous, with an embryo of a flower betwixt the two florets. There are three species; of which the most remarkable is
Meliceres the nutans. It is a native of several parts of Britain, and the adjacent islands; and the inhabitants of some of the western islands make ropes of it for fishing-nets, as it will bear the water for a long time without rotting.