''Melica penicillaris'' is a species of grass in the

Poaceae 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 ...

family. It is endemic to Inner Anatolia, Turkey, where it grows on bushy hills, rocky slopes, limestone surfaces, and in gullies at above sea level.

Description

The species is perennial and caespitose with 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 long erect culms. The leaf-sheaths are smooth, tubular and are closed on one end. The leaf-blades are flat and are long by wide. They also have a rough and scabrous surface. The eciliated margin have a

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf and leafstalk of many grasses (Poaceae) and sedges. A ligule is also a strap-shaped extension of the corolla, such as that of a ...

which is long. 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 linear, open, secund, and is long by wide. The main branches of the panicle carry 30–90 fertile spikelets which are oblong, solitary, long and are pediceled. Besides the pedicels, the spikelets have 2-4 fertile florets which are diminished at the apex. The species' also have 2–3 sterile florets which are long, barren, cuneate, and clumped. Both the upper and lower glumes are keelless, membranous, oblong and have obtuse apexes. The size is different though; Lower glume is long, while the upper one is long. Its

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 pilose surface, obtuse apex and either white or yellow coloured hairs. The fertile lemma is chartaceous, elliptic, keelless, and is long. The species' palea have ciliolated keels and is 2- veined. Flowers are fleshy, oblong and truncate. They also grow together, have 2 lodicules and 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. The fruits have caryopsis with additional pericarp and linear hilum.

Ecology

''Melica penicillaris'' blooms from May to June.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13932685 penicillaris Endemic flora of Turkey Flora of Asia Taxa named by Pierre Edmond Boissier Taxa named by Benjamin Balansa