Melica ciliata
Melica harfordii
ciliate melic, hairy melic, hairy melicgrass, silky melic, silky-spike melic
Harford melic, Harford's melic, Harford's melic grass, Harford's oniongrass
20-60(100) cm, not forming corms.
35-120 cm, not forming corms;
internodes smooth.
glabrous or shortly and sparsely pubescent;
ligules 1-4 mm;
blades 7-15 cm long, 1-4 mm wide, usually involute.
glabrous or pilose, often most pilose at the throat and collar;
ligules 0.5-1.5 mm;
blades 1.5-4.5 mm wide, abaxial surfaces smooth, adaxial surfaces scabridulous, glabrous or puberulent.
4-8(25) cm, narrowly cylindrical, lax, pale;
branches 1.5-4 cm, appressed to ascending, with 3-12(15) spikelets;
pedicels sharply bent below the spikelets;
disarticulation below the glumes.
6-25 cm;
branches 3-8 cm, appressed, with 2-6 spikelets;
pedicels straight;
disarticulation above the glumes.
6-8 mm, with 1 bisexual floret, sometimes purple-tinged.
7-20 mm, with 2-6 bisexual florets;
rachilla internodes 2-2.4 mm.
obtuse to subacute;
lower glumes 4-10 mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide, 3-5-veined;
upper glumes 5-11 mm long, 1.8-2.5 mm wide, 5-7-veined;
lemmas 6-16 mm, hairy, hairs to 0.75 mm on the back, 0.7-1.3 mm on the margins, 9-11-veined, veins inconspicuous, apices mucronate to rounded, usually awned, awns 0.5-3 mm, fragile;
paleas about 3/4 as long as to nearly equaling the length of the lemmas;
anthers 3, 2.2-4 mm;
rudiments 2.5-6 mm, tapering, resembling the bisexual florets.
4-6 mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide, ovate, 1-5-veined, acute;
upper glumes 6-8 mm long, about 1.5 mm wide, lanceolate, acute to acuminate;
lemmas 4-6.5 mm, lanceolate, 7-9-veined, papillose, margins and marginal veins pubescent, hairs 3.5-5 mm, not twisted;
rudiments 1-1.7 mm, ovoid, not resembling the bisexual florets.
about 5 mm.
=18, 36.
=18.
Melica ciliata
Melica harfordii
Melica ciliata is grown as an ornamental in North America and is not known to have escaped. It is native to Europe, northern Africa, and southwestern Asia, where it grows on damp to somewhat dry soils.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Melica harfordii grows primarily in the Pacific coast ranges from Washington to California, as well as in the Sierra Nevada and a few other inland locations, usually on dry slopes or in dry, open woods. The awns in M. harfordii often escape attention because they do not always extend beyond the lemma.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria 
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USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
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