Melica smithii
Melica ciliata
mélique de Smith, Smith oniongrass, Smith's melic, Smith's melic grass, Smith's oniongrass
ciliate melic, hairy melic, hairy melicgrass, silky melic, silky-spike melic
60-160 cm, thickened basally, sometimes appearing cormous;
internodes sometimes pubescent below the nodes.
20-60(100) cm, not forming corms.
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.
glabrous or shortly and sparsely pubescent;
ligules 1-4 mm;
blades 7-15 cm long, 1-4 mm wide, usually involute.
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.
4-8(25) cm, narrowly cylindrical, lax, pale;
branches 1.5-4 cm, appressed to ascending, with 3-12(15) spikelets;
pedicels sharply bent below the spikelets;
disarticulation below the glumes.
12-18 mm, with 3-5 bisexual florets;
rachilla internodes 2.5-3 mm.
6-8 mm, with 1 bisexual floret, sometimes purple-tinged.
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.
4-6 mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide, ovate, 1-5-veined, acute;
upper glumes 6-8 mm long, about 1.5 mm wide, lanceolate, acute to acuminate;
lemmas 4-6.5 mm, lanceolate, 7-9-veined, papillose, margins and marginal veins pubescent, hairs 3.5-5 mm, not twisted;
rudiments 1-1.7 mm, ovoid, not resembling the bisexual florets.
= unknown.
=18, 36.
Melica smithii
Melica ciliata
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 ciliata is grown as an ornamental in North America and is not known to have escaped. It is native to Europe, northern Africa, and southwestern Asia, where it grows on damp to somewhat dry soils.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites:
Flora NW, 
MI Flora, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
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