Melica porteri
Melica altissima
Porter melic, Porter's melic, Porter's melicgrass
Siberian melic, Siberian melicgrass, tall melic
55-100 cm, not forming corms;
internodes smooth, basal internodes not thickened.
60-250 cm, not forming corms, scabrous below the panicles.
often scabrous on the keels, otherwise smooth;
ligules 1-7 mm;
blades 2-5 mm wide, both surfaces glabrous, scabridulous.
retrorsely scabridulous;
ligules 3-5 mm;
blades to 20 cm long, 5-15 mm wide, flat, lax.
13-25 cm;
branches 1-9 cm, straight and appressed or flexible and ascending to strongly divergent, with 1-12 spikelets;
pedicels sharply bent below the spikelets;
disarticulation below the glumes.
10-20 cm long, 1-2(5) cm wide, cylindrical, pale or purplish;
branches about 3 cm, strongly ascending to appressed, often with 15+ spikelets;
pedicels sharply bent below the spikelets;
disarticulation below the glumes.
8-16 mm long, 1.5-5 mm wide, parallel-sided when mature, with 2-5 bisexual florets;
rachilla internodes 1.9-2.1 mm.
7-11 mm, with 1-2(3) bisexual florets.
green, pale, or purplish-tinged;
lower glumes 3.5-6 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, 3-5-veined;
upper glumes 5-8 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, 5-veined;
lemmas 6-10 mm, glabrous, chartaceous on the distal 1/3, 5-11-veined, veins conspicuous, apices rounded to acute, unawned;
paleas about 2/3 the length of the lemmas;
anthers 1-2.5 mm;
rudiments 1.8-5 mm, acute to acuminate, resembling the bisexual florets.
subequal in length and similar in shape, 7-10.5 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, glabrous, ovate-elliptic, obtuse to acute, ivory or purple, 7-veined;
lemmas 7-11 mm, glabrous, scabridulous, 9-13-veined, scarious, apices acute;
paleas about 2/3 the length of the lemmas;
rudiments 2.5-3 mm, pyriform.
about 3 mm.
= 18.
= 18.
Melica porteri
Melica altissima
Melica porteri grows on rocky slopes and in open woods, often near streams. It grows from Colorado and Arizona to central Texas and northern Mexico. Living plants are sometimes confused with Bouteloua curtipendula; the similarity is superficial.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Melica altissima is native to Eurasia. It is grown as an ornamental in North America and is reported to have escaped and become established in Oklahoma and Ontario. In its native region, it grows on the moist soils of shrubby thickets and forest edges, and on rocky slopes. Plants with dark purple glumes and lemmas can be called M. altissima var. atropurpurea Host.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Panicle branches flexible, ascending to strongly divergent; glumes purplish-tinged | var. laxa |
1. Panicle branches straight, appressed; glumes green or pale | var. porteri |
KS Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
