Melica subulata |
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Alaska melic, Alaska oniongrass, alaskan oniongrass, tapered oniongrass |
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Habit | Plants cespitose, rhizomatous. |
Culms | 55-125 cm, forming corms, corms attached to the rhizomes; internodes scabridulous basally. |
Sheaths | usually scabridulous, sometimes glabrous or pilose; ligules 0.4-5 mm, to 1.5 mm on the lower leaves, to 5 mm on the upper leaves; blades 2-10 mm wide, abaxial surfaces smooth or scabridulous, adaxial surfaces scabridulous, glabrous or with hairs. |
Panicles | 8-25 cm, lax; branches 1.7-9 cm, usually appressed to ascending, occasionally divergent, with 1-5 spikelets; pedicels not sharply bent; disarticulation above the glumes. |
Spikelets | 10-28 mm, with 2-5 bisexual florets; rachilla internodes 1.8-2 mm. |
Lower glumes | 4-8 mm long, 1.3-2.2 mm wide, 1-3-veined; upper glumes 5.5-11.5 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, 3-5-veined; lemmas 5.5-18 mm, usually strigose over the veins, hairs longest towards the base, 7-9-veined, veins prominent, apices strongly tapering and acuminate, unawned; paleas 1/2 - 3/4 the length of the lemmas; anthers 1.5-2.5 mm; rudiments 4-9 mm, tapering, resembling the bisexual florets. |
Caryopses | 4-5 mm. |
2n | = 18. |
Melica subulata |
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Distribution |
AK; CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; SD; WA; WY; AB; BC
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Discussion | Melica subulata grows from sea level to 2300 m in mesic, shady woods. Its range extends from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska through British Columbia to California, east to Lawrence County, South Dakota, and into Colorado. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 95. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Meliceae > Melica |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | M. subulata var. pammelii, Bromelica subulata |
Name authority | (Griseb.) Scribn. |
Web links |
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