''Melica argyrea'' is a species of

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

found in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

(

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

), and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

Description

The

glume In botany, a glume is a bract (leaf-like structure) below a spikelet in the inflorescence (flower cluster) of grasses (Poaceae) or the flowers of sedges (Cyperaceae). There are two other types of bracts in the spikelets of grasses: the lemma and ...

s are long and are erect. It has no lateral branches. Leaf-sheaths are tubular for majority of the length and can be scabrous. They are also glabrous or pilose on the bottom and are in length. Leaf-blades could be either filiform or linear and sometimes even involute or convolute depending on the gender. The leaves themselves are long and wide. As with leaf-sheaths the leaf-blades are also pilose but hairy sometimes on one side or on both (depending on the gender). The leaf-blade margins are always ciliated. The

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

is open, ovate and is long. The main branches are spread out, with the panicle axis being scabrous just like the branches. Pedicels are curved, filiform,

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

and have fertile

spikelet A spikelet, in botany, describes the typical arrangement of the flowers of grasses, sedges and some other Monocots. Each spikelet has one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes. The part of the spikelet that ...

s on them. Spikelets are compressed, obovate and are in length. They carry 1 fertile floret which is

callus A callus is an area of thickened and sometimes hardened skin that forms as a response to repeated friction, pressure, or other irritation. Since repeated contact is required, calluses are most often found on the feet and hands, but they may o ...

and glabrous. Florets have lanceolated lemma which is long and wide. It is also chartaceous and way thinner above and where margins are. Lemma hairs long while it apex is obtuse. It palea is long and have 2 veines. The palea keels are ciliolate while it surface is scaberulous. Apical florets are in length and are barren, sterile and have a cuneated clump. Glumes are thinner than fertile lemma and could exceed florets apex. The lower [glume can either be flabellate or obovate and is long. It is also length of upper glume and is membranous and thinner above. It is even much thinner on the margins. It has no keels but is 5-7 veined. The apex of the lower glume is erose and obtuse. The upper glume is lanceolated and is in length. Just like lower glume it doesn't have keels and is membranous, but have veins which are 3-5. The upper apex is either acute or obtuse.

Ecology

''Melica argyrea'' is quite common in grasslands, but is almost rare in the mountains. Flowers bloom from August to November.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13423978 Melica, argyrea Flora of Argentina Flora of Brazil Flora of Uruguay