Molinia (moor grass) is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the grass family, native to damp moorland in Eurasia and northern Africa. They are both herbaceous perennial grasses. The genus is named after Juan Ignacio Molina, a 19th-century Chilean naturalist. Species 1. \n* Molinia caerulea (L.) Moench - (purple moor grass) - Eurasia + northern Africa from Ireland + Morocco to Ethiopia + Kazakhstan; naturalized in parts of United States + Canada 2. \n* Molinia japonica Hack. (Japanese moor grass) - Japan, Korea, Anhui, Zhejiang, Sakhalin, Kurilformerly included