Melica nitens |
Melica harfordii |
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shining oniongrass, three-flower melic, threeflower melicgrass |
Harford melic, Harford's melic, Harford's melic grass, Harford's oniongrass |
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Habit | Plants not or loosely cespitose, shortly rhizomatous. | Plants cespitose, not rhizomatous. |
Culms | 55-130 cm, not forming corms; internodes smooth. |
35-120 cm, not forming corms; 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 or pilose, often most pilose at the throat and collar; ligules 0.5-1.5 mm; blades 1.5-4.5 mm wide, abaxial surfaces smooth, adaxial surfaces scabridulous, glabrous or 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. |
6-25 cm; branches 3-8 cm, appressed, with 2-6 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. |
7-20 mm, with 2-6 bisexual florets; rachilla internodes 2-2.4 mm. |
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. |
obtuse to subacute; lower glumes 4-10 mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide, 3-5-veined; upper glumes 5-11 mm long, 1.8-2.5 mm wide, 5-7-veined; lemmas 6-16 mm, hairy, hairs to 0.75 mm on the back, 0.7-1.3 mm on the margins, 9-11-veined, veins inconspicuous, apices mucronate to rounded, usually awned, awns 0.5-3 mm, fragile; paleas about 3/4 as long as to nearly equaling the length of the lemmas; anthers 3, 2.2-4 mm; rudiments 2.5-6 mm, tapering, resembling the bisexual florets. |
Caryopses | about 5 mm. |
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2n | = 18. |
=18. |
Melica nitens |
Melica harfordii |
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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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CA; OR; WA; BC
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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 harfordii grows primarily in the Pacific coast ranges from Washington to California, as well as in the Sierra Nevada and a few other inland locations, usually on dry slopes or in dry, open woods. The awns in M. harfordii often escape attention because they do not always extend beyond the lemma. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 100. | FNA vol. 24, p. 93. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Meliceae > Melica | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Meliceae > Melica |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | M. harfordii var. viridifolia, M. harfordii var. tenuis, M. harfordii var. minor | |
Name authority | (Scribn.) Nutt. ex Piper | Bol. |
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