Melica spectabilis
Melica altissima
purple onion grass, showy melic grass
Siberian melic, Siberian melicgrass, tall melic
45-100 cm, forming corms, corms connected to the rhizomes by a rootlike, 10-30 mm structure, which usually remains attached to the corm;
internodes smooth.
60-250 cm, not forming corms, scabrous below the panicles.
usually glabrous, often pilose at the throat and collar;
ligules 0.1-2 mm;
blades 2-5 mm wide, abaxial surfaces scabridulous over the veins, adaxial surfaces usually glabrous.
retrorsely scabridulous;
ligules 3-5 mm;
blades to 20 cm long, 5-15 mm wide, flat, lax.
5-26 cm;
branches 2-5 cm, usually appressed, sometimes divergent and flexuous, with 2-3 spikelets;
pedicels not sharply bent;
disarticulation above 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.
7-19 mm, with 3-7 bisexual florets, base of the distal florets concealed at anthesis;
rachilla internodes 1-2 mm, not swollen when fresh, not wrinkled when dry.
7-11 mm, with 1-2(3) bisexual florets.
usually less than 1/2 the length of the spikelets;
lower glumes 3.5-6.4 mm long, 1.5-3 mm wide, 1-3-veined;
upper glumes 5-7 mm long, 2.3-3.5 mm wide, 5-7-veined;
lemmas 6-9 mm, glabrous, scabridulous, 5-11-veined, veins inconspicuous, apices rounded to acute, unawned;
paleas about 73 the length of the lemmas;
anthers 1.5-3 mm;
rudiments 1.5-3.5 mm, acute, distinct from the bisexual florets, sometimes surrounded by a small sterile floret similar in shape to 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 spectabilis
Melica altissima
Melica spectabilis grows in moist meadows, flats, and open woods, from 1200-2600 m, primarily in the Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountains. It is often confused with M. bulbosa, differing in its shorter glumes, "tailed" corm, and the more marked and evenly spaced purplish bands of its spikelets.
(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.)
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WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
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