''Melica minuta'' 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 a ...

that can be found in the Mediterranean Basin, from Portugal and Morocco to the Eastern Mediterranean.

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 wid ...

and have long culms. Both the leaf-sheaths and the leaf-blades have

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 ...

surface. The other features are different though; Leaf-sheaths are tubular and are closed on one end while leaf-blades are wide and are hairy as well. The eciliated margin have a ligule that is long. The panicle is linear, open, nodding, and is long with the main

branch A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually ...

es of the panicle are spread out. They carry 7–30 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. Spikelets are oblong, solitary, are long and are pediceled. They also have 2 fertile florets which are diminished at the apex. The sterile florets are also present in a number of 2-3, and are barren, cuneate, and clumped. 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, oblong and have acute apexes. Their size is different though; Lower glume is long, while the upper one is long. Its lemma have scaberulous surface with the fertile lemma being chartaceous, keelless, oblong, ovate and of the same size as the upper glume. Lemma have an acute apex, with palea being 2- veined. Flowers are fleshy, oblong and truncate. They also grow together, have 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 and 3 anthers. 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 have

caryopsis In botany, a caryopsis (plural caryopses) is a type of simple fruit—one that is monocarpellate (formed from a single carpel) and indehiscent (not opening at maturity) and resembles an achene, except that in a caryopsis the pericarp is fuse ...

, are long with additional pericarp and linear hilum.

References

External links

Image of ''Melica minuta''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1940214 minuta Flora of Europe Flora of North Africa Flora of Western Asia Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus