Melica mutica |
Melica spectabilis |
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oniongrass, two-flower melic, twoflower melicgrass |
purple onion grass, showy melic grass |
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Habit | Plants not or loosely cespitose, shortly rhizomatous. | Plants loosely cespitose, rhizomatous. |
Culms | 45-100 cm, not forming corms; internodes sometimes scabridulous above the nodes. |
45-100 cm, forming corms, corms connected to the rhizomes by a rootlike, 10-30 mm structure, which usually remains attached to the corm; 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. |
usually glabrous, often pilose at the throat and collar; ligules 0.1-2 mm; blades 2-5 mm wide, abaxial surfaces scabridulous over the veins, adaxial surfaces usually glabrous. |
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. |
5-26 cm; branches 2-5 cm, usually appressed, sometimes divergent and flexuous, with 2-3 spikelets; pedicels not sharply bent; disarticulation above 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. |
7-19 mm, with 3-7 bisexual florets, base of the distal florets concealed at anthesis; rachilla internodes 1-2 mm, not swollen when fresh, not wrinkled when dry. |
Glumes | usually less than 1/2 the length of the spikelets; lower glumes 3.5-6.4 mm long, 1.5-3 mm wide, 1-3-veined; upper glumes 5-7 mm long, 2.3-3.5 mm wide, 5-7-veined; lemmas 6-9 mm, glabrous, scabridulous, 5-11-veined, veins inconspicuous, apices rounded to acute, unawned; paleas about 73 the length of the lemmas; anthers 1.5-3 mm; rudiments 1.5-3.5 mm, acute, distinct from the bisexual florets, sometimes surrounded by a small sterile floret similar in shape to the bisexual florets. |
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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. |
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2n | = 18. |
= 18. |
Melica mutica |
Melica spectabilis |
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Distribution |
AL; AR; DC; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MS; NC; NJ; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
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CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
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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 spectabilis grows in moist meadows, flats, and open woods, from 1200-2600 m, primarily in the Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountains. It is often confused with M. bulbosa, differing in its shorter glumes, "tailed" corm, and the more marked and evenly spaced purplish bands of its spikelets. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 100. | FNA vol. 24, p. 91. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Meliceae > Melica | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Meliceae > Melica |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Bromelica spectabilis | |
Name authority | Walter | Scribn. |
Web links |
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