Flora of North America species comparison

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Melica montezumae

Montezuma melic, Montezuma melicgrass
Habit Plants cespitose, not rhizomatous.
Culms

14-100 cm, not forming corms;

internodes smooth.
Sheaths

glabrous or scabrous;

ligules 2.5-7 mm;

blades 1.2-3 mm wide, abaxial surfaces glabrous, scabridulous, adaxial surfaces puberulent.
Panicles

5-25 cm;

branches 1-5 cm, appressed to reflexed, straight, with 2-9 spikelets;

pedicels sharply bent below the spikelets;

disarticulation below the glumes.
Spikelets

6-8 mm, with 1 bisexual floret.
Lower glumes

5.5-8 mm long, 1.8-3 mm wide, 5-veined;

upper glumes 5-8 mm long, 0.7-1.5 mm wide, 3-5-veined;

lemmas 4.5-8 mm, 9-15-veined, veins prominent, tuberculate, proximal portion with flat, twisted hairs, distal portion glabrous, chartaceous, apices emarginate to acute, unawned;

paleas about 3/4 the length of the lemmas;

anthers 1.5-3 mm;

rudiments 2-3 mm, obovoid or obconic, clublike, not resembling the bisexual florets.
2n

= 18.

Melica montezumae
Distribution
from FNA
TX
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Melica montezumae grows primarily in shady locations in the mountains of western Texas and adjacent Mexico.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 24, p. 98.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Meliceae > Melica
Sibling taxa
M. altissima, M. aristata, M. bulbosa, M. californica, M. ciliata, M. frutescens, M. fugax, M. geyeri, M. harfordii, M. imperfecta, M. mutica, M. nitens, M. porteri, M. smithii, M. spectabilis, M. stricta, M. subulata, M. torreyana
Name authority Piper
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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