''Melica aristata'' 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 ...

known by the common names awned melic and bearded melicgrass.

Distribution

It is native to the western United States from the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

to the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

and nearby ranges, where it grows in mountain forests and open hillsides.

Description

''Melica aristata'' is a

rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

perennial grass growing up to tall. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a narrow series of cylindrical spikelets. Each spikelet has an

awn AWN may stand for: * Awn Access to Justice Network in Gaza Strip, Legal Aid Network operate in Gaza Strip, Palestine * Animation World Network, an online organization for animators * Avant Window Navigator, a dock-like bar that tracks open windows ...

up to 1.2 centimeters long, the characteristic which distinguishes it from the other melics.Grass Manual Treatment

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Melica aristata''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6812288 aristata Grasses of the United States Native grasses of California Flora of the West Coast of the United States Flora of British Columbia Flora of Oregon Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Flora without expected TNC conservation status