Melica subulata

Melica subulata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Melica
Species: M. subulata
Binomial name
Melica subulata
(Griseb.) Scribn.

Melica subulata is a species of grass known by the common name Alaska oniongrass.

Distribution

It is native to western North America from Alaska to California to Colorado, where it grows in moist habitat, often in forests.

Melica subulata is a main understory member of the Douglas-fir/Alaska oniongrass plant community, a rare plant association that occurs on the southern edge of Vancouver Island on the Strait of Georgia.[1] This plant community once had a wider range, occurring also along the Puget Sound and in the Willamette Valley.[1]

Description

Melica subulata is a rhizomatous perennial grass with clustered onionlike corms at the base of each stem. It grows to a maximum height near 1.3 meters. The inflorescence is a narrow or spreading panicle of cylindrical, pointed spikelets which may be nearly 3 centimeters long.

References

  1. 1 2 Douglas-Fir/Alaska Oniongrass Plant Community Information Sheet.


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