Melica subulata

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.

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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.

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