Melica porteri
Melica porteri var. laxa
Porter melic, Porter's melic, Porter's melicgrass
Porter's melicgrass
55-100 cm, not forming corms;
internodes smooth, basal internodes not thickened.
often scabrous on the keels, otherwise smooth;
ligules 1-7 mm;
blades 2-5 mm wide, both surfaces glabrous, scabridulous.
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.
open;
branches flexible, ascending to patent.
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.
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.
purplish-tinged.
= 18.
Melica porteri
Melica porteri var. laxa
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 porteri var. laxa grows from southern Arizona east to the Chisos Mountains, Texas, and south into northern Mexico.
(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 |
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