''Melica patagonica'' 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 is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to South America.

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 ...

, caespitose and clumped while culms are decumbent and are long. The leaf-sheaths are scabrous, tubular, are closed on one end and are

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 ...

on surface. The leaf-blades are convolute, filiform, and are long by wide. They also have scabrous margins and pubescent surface. 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, linear and is long. The axis of the panicle is dominant while the main panicle

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

es are appressed. Spikelets are elliptic, solitary, are long and have fertile spikelets that are pediceled. The pedicels are ciliate, curved, filiform, and hairy above. The spikelets have 1-2 fertile florets which are diminished at the apex while the sterile florets are barren, cuneate, and clumped with both its rhachilla and its floret

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 ...

being pubescent. 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 are of the same size as spikelets. Their other features are different; Lower glume is elliptic with an acute apex while the upper one is lanceolate, and have obtuse apex. 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 ciliated and hairy margins with obtuse apex. The hairs are long while the fertile lemma is chartaceous, lanceolate, and is long by wide. Its palea have ciliolated keels and emarginated apex. It is also oblanceolate, long and is 2 veined. Flowers are fleshy, oblong, truncate and are long. They also grow together, and have 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 that 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 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 fused ...

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

Ecology

Its

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

ing time is from October to December.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13932682 patagonica Flora of Southern America