Melica nitens |
Melica torreyana |
|
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shining oniongrass, three-flower melic, threeflower melicgrass |
Torrey's melic, Torrey's melica, Torrey's melicgrass |
|
Habit | Plants not or loosely cespitose, shortly rhizomatous. | Plants densely cespitose, not rhizomatous. |
Culms | 55-130 cm, not forming corms; internodes smooth. |
30-100 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 sparsely pilose, sometimes pilose only at the throat, sometimes scabridulous; ligules 1-5 mm; blades 1-2.5 mm wide, sometimes pilose on both surfaces, sometimes scabridulous. |
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 1-5 cm, usually appressed, occasionally divergent, with 5-37 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. |
3.5-7 mm, with 1(2) bisexual florets. |
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. |
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Lower glumes | 3-5 mm long, about 1 mm wide, 1-5-veined; upper glumes 3.3-7 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, 3-5-veined; lemmas 3.5-6 mm, scabridulous, sometimes hairy, distal hairs longer than those below, 7-veined, veins inconspicuous, apices rounded to emarginate, unawned or awned, awns 1-2 mm; paleas slightly shorter than the lemmas; anthers 1.5-2.5 mm; rudiments 0.5-4 mm, clearly distinct from the bisexual florets, shorter than the terminal rachilla internode, truncate to acute. |
|
2n | = 18. |
=18. |
Melica nitens |
Melica torreyana |
|
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
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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 torreyana grows from sea level to 1200 m, in thickets and woods in California. It is common throughout chaparral areas and coniferous forests but, on serpentine soils, grows only in shady locations. The shape and size of the rudiments make M. torreyana unique among the species found in North America. Boyle (1945) obtained vigorous, almost completely sterile hybrids between M. imperfecta and M. torreyana, but found no examples of natural hybrids. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 100. | FNA vol. 24, p. 90. |
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 |