''Melica nitens'' 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 threeflower melicgrass or three-flowered melic.
It is native to the central United States.
[''Melica nitens''.]
Grass Manual Treatment.[''Melica nitens''.]
NatureServe.
Description
This perennial grass has short
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 sometimes forms bunches. The stems grow up to 1.3 meters 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 branching panicle of spikelets. The
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 normally have three perfect flowers in one sided panicles.
Despite its name, the grass may also have spikelets with two or four flowers each,
[ often two.][''Melica nitens''.]
USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet. The rachilla is longer than the fertile florets, and terminates in a club.
Habitat
In the wild this plant grows in wooded areas, grasslands, streambanks, and roadsides.[ In some areas it is considered "highly threatened by land-use conversion and ]habitat fragmentation
Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological processes ...
, and to a lesser extent by forest management practices."[ In other areas it is cultivated and sown as a forage grass.][ In the US state of Minnesota, where it reaches its most northerly range in the extreme south eastern part of the state, it is listed as a threatened species; it was historically found in sandy soiled woodlands and prairie.]
References
External links
nitens
Flora of North America
{{Pooideae-stub