''Melica decipiens'' 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 ...

that can be found in the mountains of Cordoba and

San Luis San Luis (Spanish for "Saint Louis") may refer to: Places Argentina * San Luis Province * San Luis, Argentina, capital of San Luis Province Belize * San Luis, Belize, in Orange Walk District Colombia * San Luis, Antioquia, a town and municipality ...

provinces of

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 ...

Description

The species is

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

with elongated

rhizome 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 ...

s and erect culms which are long. The leaf-sheaths are tubular and are closed on one end with the surface being glabrous. The leaf-blades are flat, stiff, and are long by wide. They are also scabrous, with the same goes for margins and surface while the apex is attenuate. The membrane is eciliated, long and is lacerate. 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 ...

itself is open, linear, is long and carry 4–6 fertile spikelets. Spikelets are obovate, solitary, long and have pediceled fertile spikelets. The pedicels are ciliate, curved, filiform, and hairy above. The spikelets have 2 fertile florets which are diminished at the apex while the sterile florets are barren, lanceolate, clumped and are long. Its rhachilla have scaberulous internodes while the floret callus is glabrous. Both the upper and lower

glumes 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 ...

are keelless, membranous, and have acute apexes but have different size and description; Lower glume is obovate and is long while upper one is elliptic and is long. The species'

lemma Lemma may refer to: Language and linguistics * Lemma (morphology), the canonical, dictionary or citation form of a word * Lemma (psycholinguistics), a mental abstraction of a word about to be uttered Science and mathematics * Lemma (botany), a ...

have eciliated margins while its fertile one is chartaceous, elliptic, and is long by wide. Its palea have ciliolated keels and is of the same length as fertile lemma. Flowers are fleshy, glabrous and truncate. They also grow together and are long with 2

lodicule 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. The 3

anther The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s are long. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s are long and ellipsoid. They also have caryopsis with additional pericarp and linear hilum.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15296850 decipiens Endemic flora of Argentina Flora of Southern America