Melica nitens |
Melica frutescens |
|
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shining oniongrass, three-flower melic, threeflower melicgrass |
tall melica, woody melic, woody melicgrass |
|
Habit | Plants not or loosely cespitose, shortly rhizomatous. | Plants densely cespitose, not rhizomatous. |
Culms | 55-130 cm, not forming corms; internodes smooth. |
60-200 cm, not forming corms, often branched from the lower nodes; internodes smooth. |
Sheaths | glabrous or scabridulous; ligules 1-6.5 mm; blades 3.5-11 mm wide, flat, abaxial surfaces smooth or scabridulous, adaxial surfaces scabridulous. |
glabrous, sometimes scabridulous, sometimes purplish; ligules 2.5-9 mm; blades 2-5 mm wide, abaxial sufaces scabridulous, adaxial surfaces puberulent. |
Panicles | 9-26 cm; branches 3.5-6 cm, often divergent to reflexed, straight, with 5-20 spikelets; pedicels sharply bent and hairy below the spikelets; disarticulation below the glumes. |
12-40 cm; branches 3.5-9 cm, appressed, with 5-15 spikelets; pedicels straight; disarticulation above the glumes. |
Spikelets | 8-12 mm, with 2-3(4) bisexual florets, apices of the lowest 2 florets not at the same level; rachilla internodes 2.3-2.4 mm. |
9-18 mm, with 3-5 bisexual florets; rachilla internodes 1-1.3 mm, not swollen when fresh, not wrinkled when dry. |
Glumes | unequal; lower glumes 5-9 mm long, 3.5-4.5 mm wide, more ovate than the upper glumes, 3-9-veined; upper glumes 6-11 mm long, 2.5-3.5 mm wide, 3-7-veined; lemmas 6.5-11.5 mm, glabrous or scabrous, somewhat indurate, with 9+ veins, veins prominent, apices rounded, unawned; paleas about 3/4 the length of the lemmas; anthers 1.7-3.2 mm; rudiments 2-3 mm, clublike, not resembling the bisexual florets, in a straight line with the rachilla. |
|
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. |
|
2n | = 18. |
= 18. |
Melica nitens |
Melica frutescens |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; AZ; CO; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; MD; MN; MO; NC; NE; NM; OH; OK; PA; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV
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AZ; CA
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Discussion | Melica nitens grows in dry to moist woodlands, often in rocky areas with rich soil. It grows primarily from Minnesota to Pennsylvania and southwest to Texas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
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 | ||
Name authority | (Scribn.) Nutt. ex Piper | Scribn. |
Web links |