Melica frutescens

FNA 2007, Gould 1980

Common Name: woody melicgrass Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Graminoid General: Densely cespitose perennial, not rhizomatous with stems 60-200 cm, often branched from lower nodes, with smooth internodes, often woody at base. Vegetative: Glabrous sheaths, sometimes minutely roughened, sometimes purplish, blades 2-5 mm wide, lower surfaces minutely roughened, upper surfaces puberulent, ligules 2.5-9 mm. Inflorescence: Panicles 12-40 cm with branches 3.5-9 cm, appressed with 5-15 spikelets on straight pedicels, disarticulation above the glumes; spikelets 9-18 mm with 3-5 bisexual florets; rachilla internodes 1-1.3 mm, not swollen when fresh, not wrinkled when dry; lower glumes 7-12 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, 5-7 veined; upper glumes 8-15 mm long, 2.5-3.5 mm wide, 5-7 veined; lemmas 8-11 mm, glabrous, obtuse and papery, sometimes purplish basally, apices rounded to acute, unawned; paleas about half the length of the lemmas. Ecology: Found on dry slopes and in canyons from 1,000-5,000 ft (305-1524 m); flowers spring. Notes: Pay attention to the closed leaf sheaths, the lemma apices which are scarious and the veins on the lemmas to get to this tribe, but for this species note the variable disarticulation and the bulb-like base. Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Melica is from Greek melike, which is derived from mel for honey, while frutescens means shrubby. Synonyms: None Editor: SBuckley, 2010