Melica smithii |
Melica bulbosa |
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mélique de Smith, Smith oniongrass, Smith's melic, Smith's melic grass, Smith's oniongrass |
bulbous oniongrass, onion grass, western onion grass |
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Habit | Plants loosely cespitose, not rhizomatous. | Plants loosely cespitose, rhizomatous. |
Culms | 60-160 cm, thickened basally, sometimes appearing cormous; internodes sometimes pubescent below the nodes. |
29-100 cm, forming corms, corms almost sessile on the connecting rhizomes; internodes scabridulous above the nodes. |
Sheaths | usually glabrous, sometimes pilose or retrorsely scabrous, particularly at the throat, veins often prominent; ligules 2-4 mm; blades 15-25 cm long, 5-12 mm wide, both surfaces usually scabridulous, glabrous, sometimes the adaxial surfaces with hairs. |
usually scabridulous, sometimes sparsely pilose; ligules 2-6 mm; blades 1.5-5 mm wide, abaxial surfaces scabridulous, adaxial surfaces with hairs. |
Panicles | 12-30 cm; branches 7-11 cm, spreading to reflexed, with 4-7 spikelets, spikelets restricted to the distal portion, axils frequently with brownish pulvini; pedicels straight; disarticulation above the glumes. |
7-30 cm; branches 2-6.5 cm, appressed, usually straight, with 1-5 spikelets; pedicels straight; disarticulation above the glumes. |
Spikelets | 12-18 mm, with 3-5 bisexual florets; rachilla internodes 2.5-3 mm. |
6-24 mm, with 4-7 bisexual florets, base of the distal florets concealed at anthesis; rachilla internodes 1-2 mm, not swollen when fresh, not wrinkled when dry. |
Glumes | from (1/2)2/3 as long as to equaling the spikelets; lower glumes 5.5-10.5 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, 3-5-veined; upper glumes 6-14 mm long, 2.3-3.5 mm wide, 5-7-veined; lemmas 6-12 mm, glabrous, smooth or scabrous, 7-11-veined, veins prominent, apices emarginate to acute, unawned; paleas about 3/4 the length of the lemmas; anthers 3, 1.5-4 mm; rudiments 1.5-5 mm, truncate to tapering, sometimes resembling the bisexual florets in shape. |
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Lower glumes | 4.5-7 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, 1-3-veined; upper glumes 6.5-9 mm long, 1.2-1.8 mm wide, 3-5-veined; lemmas 9.5-12 mm, glabrous or scabrous, 7-veined, apices bifid to emarginate, awned, awns 3-10 mm; paleas about 2/3 the length of the lemmas; anthers 1.3-2.5 mm; rudiments 3.5-6 mm, tapering, resembling the bisexual florets. |
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2n | = unknown. |
=18. |
Melica smithii |
Melica bulbosa |
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Distribution |
ID; MI; MT; OR; SD; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; ON; QC
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CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; SD; TX; UT; WA; WY; BC; SK
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Discussion | Melica smithii grows in cool, moist woods from British Columbia and Alberta south to Oregon and Wyoming and, as a disjunct, from the Great Lakes region to western Quebec. It often forms colonies in the eastern portion of its range. Its disjunct distribution pattern is unusual among North America's grasses. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Melica bulbosa grows from 1370-3400 m, mostly in open woods on dry, well-drained slopes and along streams. It is restricted to the western half of the Flora region. Two records from Texas, in Jeff Davis and Sutton counties, have not been verified. Melica bulbosa differs from M. spectabilis in its sessile corm and longer glumes. In addition, in M. bulbosa the spikelets have purplish bands which appear to be concentrated towards the apices; in M. spectabilis the bands appear more regularly spaced. It differs from M. californica in its more narrowly acute spikelets, more strongly colored lemmas, and lack of corms, and from M. fugax in not having swollen rachilla internodes. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 95. | FNA vol. 24, p. 91. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | M. bulbosa var. intonsa, M. bulbosa var. inflata, Bromelica bulbosa | |
Name authority | (Porter ex A. Gray) Vasey | Geyer ex Porter & J.M. Coult. |
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