Melica frutescens |
Melica aristata |
|
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tall melica, woody melic, woody melicgrass |
awn melic, bearded melic grass, bearded oniongrass |
|
Habit | Plants densely cespitose, not rhizomatous. | Plants cespitose, not rhizomatous. |
Culms | 60-200 cm, not forming corms, often branched from the lower nodes; internodes smooth. |
40-120 cm, not forming corms; internodes smooth. |
Sheaths | glabrous, sometimes scabridulous, sometimes purplish; ligules 2.5-9 mm; blades 2-5 mm wide, abaxial sufaces scabridulous, adaxial surfaces puberulent. |
glabrous, scabrous, sometimes sparsely pilose; ligules 2.5-5 mm; blades 5.5-15 cm long, 2-6 mm wide, often sparsely pilose on both surfaces. |
Panicles | 12-40 cm; branches 3.5-9 cm, appressed, with 5-15 spikelets; pedicels straight; disarticulation above the glumes. |
10-26 cm; branches 4-6 cm, appressed or strongly ascending, with 1-4 spikelets per branch; pedicels not sharply bent; disarticulation above the glumes. |
Spikelets | 9-18 mm, with 3-5 bisexual florets; rachilla internodes 1-1.3 mm, not swollen when fresh, not wrinkled when dry. |
11-21 mm, with (2)3-5 bisexual florets; rachilla internodes 3.4-3.8 mm. |
Lower glumes | 7-12 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, 5-7-veined; upper glumes 8-15 mm long, 2.5-3.5 mm wide, 5-7-veined; lemmas 8-11 mm, glabrous, chartaceous for the distal 1/3 or more, 7-9-veined, sometimes purplish basally, veins inconspicuous, apices rounded to acute, unawned; paleas about 3/4 the length of the lemmas; anthers 3, 1-2 mm; rudiments 2-6 mm, blunt, enclosed in empty lemmas resembling those of the bisexual florets. |
9-11 mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide, 3-5-veined; upper glumes 11-12 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, 5-7-veined; lemmas 8-13 mm, with 0.3-0.6 mm hairs on the marginal veins, glabrous or with hairs to 0.1 mm elsewhere, 5-7-veined, veins prominent, apices bifid to emarginate, awned from the sinuses, awns 5-12 mm; paleas about 3/4 the length of the lemmas; anthers 2, 2-3 mm; rudiments 2.5-6 mm, tapering, resembling the bisexual florets. |
Caryopses | 5-6 mm. |
|
2n | = 18. |
=18. |
Melica frutescens |
Melica aristata |
|
Distribution |
AZ; CA
|
CA; KY; NV; OR; WA
|
Discussion | Melica frutescens grows from 300-1500 m in the dry hills and canyons of southern California, Arizona, and adjacent Mexico. Boyle (1945) stated that its seeds remain viable longer than those of other North American species of Melica; he gave no information on how long. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Melica aristata grows from 1000-3000 m in open fir and pine woods. It is restricted to the Flora region, being native from Washington to southern California. It has also been found in Kentucky, possibly as an introduction from contaminated seed. Melica aristata is easily distinguished from most species of Melica by its conspicuous awns. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 91. | FNA vol. 24, p. 95. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Meliceae > Melica | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Meliceae > Melica |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Scribn. | Thurb. ex Bol. |
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