Melica mutica |
Melica montezumae |
|
---|---|---|
oniongrass, two-flower melic, twoflower melicgrass |
Montezuma melic, Montezuma melicgrass |
|
Habit | Plants not or loosely cespitose, shortly rhizomatous. | Plants cespitose, not rhizomatous. |
Culms | 45-100 cm, not forming corms; internodes sometimes scabridulous above the nodes. |
14-100 cm, not forming corms; internodes smooth. |
Sheaths | glabrous or pilose; ligules 0.5-1.5 mm; blades 1.8-6 mm wide, abaxial surfaces glabrous, scabridulous, adaxial surfaces with hairs. |
glabrous or scabrous; ligules 2.5-7 mm; blades 1.2-3 mm wide, abaxial surfaces glabrous, scabridulous, adaxial surfaces puberulent. |
Panicles | 4-25 cm; branches 3.5-6 cm, appressed to spreading, straight, with 2-5 spikelets; pedicels sharply bent below the spikelets; disarticulation below the glumes. |
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 | 6-11 mm, with (1)2(4) bisexual florets, floret apices at about the same level; rachilla internodes 1.5-1.7 mm. |
6-8 mm, with 1 bisexual floret. |
Lower glumes | 4.5-8 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, 5-7-veined; upper glumes 5-9 mm long, 2.5-3.5 mm wide, 5-6-veined; lemmas 6-11 mm, glabrous or scabrous, indurate, 9-11-veined, veins prominent, apices rounded to acute, unawned; paleas about 3/4 the length of the lemmas; anthers 1-3 mm; rudiments 2-3 mm, clublike, not resembling the bisexual florets, at a sharp angle to the rachilla. |
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. |
= 18. |
Melica mutica |
Melica montezumae |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; DC; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MS; NC; NJ; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
|
TX |
Discussion | Melica mutica grows in moist or dry areas in open woods and thickets, from Iowa and Texas east to Maryland and Florida. It is unique among the North American species in having a clublike rudiment at a sharp angle to the rachilla. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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. 100. | FNA vol. 24, p. 98. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Meliceae > Melica | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Meliceae > Melica |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Walter | Piper |
Web links |